


Completely Casual

by Werepirechick



Series: Alternate Dimension B-9374, or , The Age Swap Remix [4]
Category: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TV 2012), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - All Media Types
Genre: Body Dysphoria, Eventual Relationships, Eventual Sex, Falling In Love, Love/Hate, M/M, Multi, Secret Relationship, Self-Esteem Issues, Slow Burn, actually the sex happens pretty quickly here, and donnie doesn't know what he wants anymore, april doesn't want one at all really, but its hot as hell, casey and donnie are basically on fire right off the bat, casey has enough confidence for them both tho, casey's looking for a relationship, eventual Donatello/Casey Jones/April O'Neil, its not hate and its not love, mostly on april's end of things, that stuffs all donnie here, the eventual part is the three-way mostly, they don't know what it is
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-04
Updated: 2017-10-19
Packaged: 2018-08-19 12:11:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 32,911
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8207236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Werepirechick/pseuds/Werepirechick
Summary: It definitely wasn't a thing. It definitely wasn't a relationship.Nope, not at all, and no one was allowed to say otherwise.Not that Casey and Donnie told anyone. Because it wasn't a thing, so obviously they didn't have to tell anyone about it. It was just... casual interaction, that happened to involve a lot of making out. And sometimes other stuff.**Winner of FIRST PLACE in the Universal TMNT Erotica Fanfic Competition 2016 for STEAMIEST SLASH/FEMSLASH**





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> ..........I have no explanation for this, beyond that I've got very little self control over my brain.
> 
> I know the other fic isn't done yet, but someone asked how the other ot3 was doing, so I might've been completely unable to stop thinking about their journey to romance these past few days. Sorry, I promise the epilogue for It Takes Two To Tango and etc is almost finished; it'll be up as soon as I finish another bit of writing I promised to a friend of mine.
> 
> My old roots to the Homestuck fandom have influenced my view of romance, especially of hate/love. This fic will be a lot less goofy romcom moments, a lot more fuckit and fuck-you-literally moments compared to the last fiction.  
> The main timeline ot3, they're going to have a very different path to their pairing. It starts with Casey of course, because ain't he one hell of an instigator.
> 
> Updates will be sporadic, prepare to watch me learn how to properly write sexual intercourse scenes. Yee.

 

 

Just a month after meeting his alternate self, Casey got around to asking the question that’d been hanging on the tip of his tongue; the one that’d gotten louder and louder in the back of his head since that evening.

“So, you wanna make out?” He asked casually, leaning one hand onto the lab table and using the other to make a finger pistol.

Donnie looked at him with an expression that could only be described as disgust.

“Did you hit your head harder than usual?” Donnie asked him, still grimacing at Casey.

“Nah, unless you count hitting the ground when I fell for you,” Casey winked at the mutant, adding his signature smirk to the mixture.

“Whatever’s happening right now, please stop it, and possibly seek medical help to examine your obvious brain damage,” Donnie said, going back to his sciency-whatever notes, in an attempt to dismiss Casey.

“I’d let _you_ give me an examination-”

Donnie threw his notebook at Casey’s face.

 

 

 

Sexuality crisis over and done with, Casey was more curious than grossed out by what his alternate self had told him.

Apparently, the tall, nerdy, complete jackass of a guy, Donatello of all people, was a good fuck.

A really, really good fuck.

Also a decent guy all around, and loving partner to be with; but most importantly, to Casey at least, he was good in bed. Somehow.

According to the older, buffer version of himself at least. Normally, Casey wouldn’t take anyone’s opinion on sex other than his own, but since this _was_ technically his own advice… well, Casey was willing to make an exception.

Hence, a month later and post one rapid rise and fall of sexuality crisis, Casey started hitting on Donnie when no one else was looking.

 

 

 

“I don’t know what you’re trying to accomplish here,” Donnie said acidly to Casey, looking down at him from the top of his sweet battle car. The mutant’s goggles blocked the likely glare he was making, but did nothing to hide the flat, unimpressed line his lips were making. “I’m. Not. Interested. And I don’t know why I have to keep telling you that.”

“But dude, our alt selves said so, we kiss and shit an’ it’s great,” Casey said insistently, refusing to back down on the subject. “C’mon, we even get April in the mix if we do; doesn’t that sound fantastic?”

“That sounds disturbing, just like anything involving _you_ does,” Donnie replied, just as nastily as before.

Casey put a hand over his heart, faking a wound. “That’s just mean, dude; I’m really hurt you think so lowly of me.”

“Oh no, I think much lower of you than that, I’ve just promised April I wouldn’t say it to your face.”

“Harsh bro, real harsh.”

“Eat shit and get out of my garage, Jones.”

“You’ll come around, its fate.”

“Just get out already.”

 

 

 

“You can’t resist forever, Donnie,” Casey said to the mutant as they passed by each other, heading for different opponents each way. “We’ve got magnetism, just admit it.”

“If we’re magnetised at all, it’s with different polarities,” Donnie replied dismissively, blatantly ignoring Casey’s attempts to catch his attention again, and focusing intently on the Purple Dragons they were grinding into dust. “You can stop being a desperate faker whenever you want, Jones.”

Casey huffed, spinning his favored hockey stick around in a wide arc and sweeping the feet out from under the gang-banger he was facing off with. “Jeeze, what’s it take a guy to get another guy to kiss ‘im? And he doesn’t have to be a dick about it either.”

“A-Are you… are you actually _flirting_ with that freak?” The man sprawled on the pavement asked, obviously disgusted by Casey and Donnie.

“I take it back,” Casey swung his hockey stick again, this time hitting the guy across his temple with a loud crack, and making him slump unconscious. _“You’re_ the dick in this situation.”

 

 

 

Casey might’ve used that word a lot of times during and after he met the turtles, but following the recent weeks of thinking to himself and getting to know them… Casey regretted it, since they were cool dudes, mutants or not.

Plus, there was the info his alter self had tipped him off about.

_“Be nice to your Don, alright? He needs a lot of TLC before things start rolling,” Casey’s alternate self told his in a hushed voice. “He’s got like, all sorts of body issues, and it stalls the three of us for months. And you know, world ending and stuff-”_

_“Wait, the world ends??” Casey asked his other self, because that sounded a lot more important than the idea of getting it on with_ Donnie _of all people._

_“Not important,” The older Casey said dismissively, waving Casey’s concerns off. “Anyways, be like, romantic and shit. Pull out our best tricks, that should speed things up for you three nicely. They work well on both April and Don, so just kill two birds with one stone, a’ight?”_

_“About the world ending thing-”_

_“And make sure you don’t let him weasel out of things just because he’s a mutant; it really, really doesn’t matter. Just treat him, and her, to the ol’ Jones charm, and you three’ll be hittin’ it off in no time.”_

_“I really feel like you should tell me about the world ending thing.”_

_“Its fine, we fix it.”_

_“Uh, if you’re sure…”_

_“Sure I’m sure, don’t doubt yourself on this, I’m an expert on the topic at this point. Anyways, about wooing the fuck out of both April_ and _Don…”_

Casey had come out of that conversation feeling like he should’ve taken a scrub brush, put it to his actual brain stem, and scrubbed until the memory was gone.

But… Casey was a bit of a daydreamer, and he was man enough to admit that. And, his daydreams had a tendency to take on a life of their own; including the ones about a specific red head. Ones that quickly started featuring not only April and her banging body, but Donnie and his… admittedly muscular self.

Looked like Casey Jones played both right wing and left wing then; but he’d always been a bit of ambidextrous player anyways, so the surprise wore off pretty quickly.

Mostly now, he was curious; because his other self had seemed really happy, talking about being with both April and Donnie in a relationship. Casey would be the first to say it, that even he wanted to have a steady, rock solid relationship with someone who liked him back just as much as he liked them. Or, after re-evaluating himself, a rock solid relationship with _two_ someone’s, who liked him just as much as he liked them.

Though, he wouldn’t call his interest in Donnie _like_ , so much as…

Actually, Casey wasn’t sure what to call it. It was something; best to leave it at that, and just focus on wooing the guy.

So he did. Or, he tried at least.

 

 

 

On a whim, Casey bought a small bouquet of yellow-whatevers for April, and presented them to her after a long, painfully boring day at school.

Her soft smile, and adorable blush on her cheeks, counted it as a win in his favor.

Without the rest of the Hamatos seeing, later that night, Casey slipped a single yellow rose into Donnie’s lab; leaving it on the nearest lab table sitting in a long nosed beaker, with a note addressing it to the mutant.

Shortly after he got home, Casey found a bag of charred flower remains in his backpack.

Minus one point, then.

Casey tried chocolates, surprising April with a small box of sweets after a brutal night, one they’d spent looking for her mutated father.

She’d sighed, and shook her head; but Casey knew her grin, while exasperated, was a happy one. She’d taken the chocolates, best he could afford with what small pocket cash he had, and split it with him over lunch.

“I’m not looking for a relationship right now, you know that,” April said to him, popping the peach flavored truffle into her mouth.

Casey smiled lazily, helping himself to the bitterer sweets on the edge of the box. “I know, but that doesn’t mean I can’t treat a good friend of mine nicely after her shitty night.”

Casey left a smaller, but better wrapped, package of chocolates in Donnie’s lab that evening; hiding it in the turtle’s ongoing notes for retro-mutagen.

He’d been in the kitchen, playing an intense game of go-fish with Raph and Mikey, when Donnie had entered the room; carrying with him a platter with something smoking and melted.

“Lab accident,” Donnie said innocently, looking directly as Casey as he dumped the platter of waste into the garbage.

“Don’t you have a trash can in there already? That shit’s gonna stink up the place,” Raph grumbled at his brother.

“Hm, yes, but I haven’t had a chance to change it out tonight, so _that_ had to go in here,” Donnie replied breezily, exiting the room with smooth strides. “I’ll take care of it later, when our home is without unwanted intruders. Don’t call me until then.”

“He’s being so grumpy lately, IDK what his problem is,” Mikey commented as Donnie shut the door behind him, shuffling the pick-up pile of cards.

“Quit spelling out ‘IDK’, and just say the actual words already,” Raph said, rolling his eyes at Mikey’s returning raspberry. “By the way, who’s got any four of spades?”

Casey sighed, placing his losing hand face down on the table. Minus two points then.

Casey tried gifts they’d like.

April wore her brand new studs the day after he gave them to her, the metal glinting in the lights of their school.

Donnie’s burned his gifted spiral notebook, leaving the smoking garbage can outside his lab.

April happily accepted collection of extra strength hair ties, for when she was training with master Splinter, and wore them her next session.

Donnie looked Casey dead in the eye as he dumped out the Grande size coffee Casey had brought him, and left the paper cup in the sink without a look backwards.

April rolled her eyes good naturedly when he gave her a baseball bat, and challenged him to a game that afternoon.

Donnie told him exactly where he could put his offered hockey sticks, and slammed the door in his face.

Casey persisted though, despite the mutant shutting him out or down at every turn.

Pickup lines:

April mostly laughed at Casey’s attempts, but usually gave him an exasperated smile as reward.

Donnie glared or blank-faced him until he left, or basically bit Casey’s head off with long, encyclopedia jargon.

Compliments:

April shushed him, blushed faintly around her ears, and occasionally returned a slightly flirty comment.

Donnie straight up insulted Casey, every time without fail.

Three weeks later, and Casey was minus thirty points.

Casey was starting to run out of ideas.

And patience.

Be nice to him, treat him romantically, be a gentlemen, Casey’s other self had said. Well, his other self had forgotten to mention what a fucking asshole Donnie could be about literally everything.

The last straw was something relatively minor, but it set Casey off anyways.

 

 

 

He only caught the end of it, but he could tell exactly what’d happened anyways.

April left the lab, waving as she did, and giving Donnie a cheery goodnight. Casey waited until she’d disappeared through the turnstiles, out into the tunnels, before leaving his slouch in an unlit corner of the main area; he’d been waiting on Raph to finish up his extra training with Leo and Splinter, but it looked like he had other things to deal with.

Casey stood in the doorway, peeking in on the lab of his currently failing romantic pursuit. Donnie was standing in the middle of the room, leaning on a table as he smiled dopily at the object in his hands.

It was a notebook, almost exactly like the one Casey had tried to give him not a week ago.

“Oh, so you’ll keep gifts from April, but not _me?”_ Casey said accusingly, startling Donnie out of his love-sick haze. He stepped all the way into the room, shutting the door behind him so no one would hear or see what might happen next. “What’s the fucking difference between _my_ notebook, and _her_ notebook?”

“Well for starters, I actually _like_ April,” Donnie said condescendingly, shooting Casey a look that spoke the same thing. “I’ve told you from day one what I think of you, so I don’t know what you’re hoping for here.”

Casey narrowed his eyes, scowling at the mutant.

Alright, he was about done with being nice.

He strode over to the mutant, getting right in Donnie’s personal space, and glared up at the other teen. “I’ve been literally the nicest guy on the fucking planet to you, and you won’t even give me the time of day. I’ve gotten you flowers-”

“Which I burned.”

“-and chocolates-”

“Which I burned too.”

“- _and_ a notebook-”

“Which I also burned.”

“- _what the hell is your damage?_ Or your thing with literally burning any bridge I try settin’ up with you,” Casey said angrily, smacking his hand against the notebook Donnie was still holding. “You _saw_ our other selves; you heard from _yourself_ what happens if we try this, and you’re _still_ telling me to piss off?”

Donnie moved the notebook away from Casey’s reach, placing it on the table behind him and crossing his arms. “We aren’t them, we’re our own persons with different histories. Whatever they’ve decided to do, it doesn’t affect how we’ll react or think in the future.”

“What if I _want_ it to affect our future?” Casey asked. “What if I want to try what they’ve got?”

“And what if I _don’t_ want to try it, what if I don’t want you within a fifty foot radius of me?” Donnie asked back.

“Then why’d you let me so close?”

Casey _had_ gotten close, and Donnie hadn’t pushed him away yet. Donnie’s shell was against the table, and Casey was leaning pretty far into his personal space; if he took another step, they’d be touching, and he’d have to put his hands on Donnie’s plastron to keep from falling over.

Donnie narrowed his eyes at Casey, looking down on him from his slight extra height. “I hate you. I hate everything about you, and everything you represent in my life. Sappy gifts aren’t going to change that.”

“Aw, you thought they were sappy,” Casey said teasingly. “That means a part of you liked ‘em.”

“And yet, somehow I found the will to destroy each and every one,” Donnie replied dryly.

Casey’s tempered flared again, because he’d put money and effort into getting that stuff, because he’d thought Donnie might actually like his gifts if he tried hard enough to find things he liked.

Because he was actually kinda hurt that they’d been rejected so harshly.

“You’re a dick,” Casey said in a low tone, glaring at Donnie.

“If you think so, then why the hell are you still pursuing me?” Donnie replied, glaring right back.

“Maybe I like a challenge.”

“Maybe I like people to leave me alone when I tell them to.”

“You still aren’t pushing me away though.”

Casey put a hand on Donnie’s plastron, leaning the final distance between them, and hovering just in front of the mutant’s face. Casey moistened his lips, and he saw Donnie’s eyes dart at the movement.

“Get out of my lab, Jones,” Donnie said quietly, still not pushing Casey away. “I don’t want you in here or anywhere near me.”

“You’re kinda sending mixed signals on that statement,” Casey said breathily, so close to Donnie now that he could feel Donnie’s soft exhales on his skin.

“What part of ‘I hate you’ is a mixed signal?” Donnie said, moistening his own lips.

“The part where you don’t mean it,” Casey smirked, just before he pressed his lips against Donnie’s cool ones.

Donnie tasted a little like coffee, a little like something earthy; not a bad flavor, for a mutant. Casey pushed at Donnie’s lips, wanting more of that, and leaned fully onto Donnie’s front. It was a little awkward, the standing but leaning position, but once Casey got his arm around Donnie’s back of neck, he was mostly beyond caring.

And when Donnie’s hands landed on the lower part of his back, Casey took that as a sign to put a little more effort into things.

Donnie’s lips and scales and basically his whole self was a couple degrees below human temperature, smooth scales and patches of something that wasn’t quite skin, not soft but not too rough either. Casey pulled Donnie closer, even though there was no space between them anymore, and added more pressure to the kiss.

They moved back and forth, taking turns pushing against each other, until Donnie broke it off; leaning back from Casey and panting. Casey felt breathless as well, and grinned lopsidedly at the mutant.

“What the hell are we doing?” Donnie asked, staring at Casey like he was some huge surprise.

“Having fun, making out, normal teenage things,” Casey said around his own gasps for breath.

“This is… this is obviously some elaborate prank you came up with, and while I admire you dedication, you can stop it now,” Donnie said, even though he was looking at Casey’s lips again, and still hadn’t even _tried_ to push Casey away.

“Oh, but I don’t feel like it,” Casey said, grinning as he leaned back into Donnie’s space. “And here’s the thing about me; I don’t typically do what _anyone_ wants me to, and that…. includes… you.” Casey stopped right in front of Donnie’s face, looking the mutant right in his big red eyes. He grinned at Donnie, though the other teen scowled in response. “You still haven’t pushed me away.”

“Fuck you, Jones,” Donnie said, glaring at him.

“Hey, take a guy to dinner first, then we’ll talk.”

“You’re infuriating.”

“Like you’re some kinda sweetheart.”

“Shut up,” Donnie said, breathiness returning.

Casey closed the last distance between them, brushing his lips over Donnie’s. _“Make me.”_

The resulting grip on Casey’s waist, and Donnie’s teeth biting into his lips made Casey shut the hell up, and focus on something a lot better than just bantering.

Casey’s put a leg between Donnie’s, and as their kissing got rougher and sloppier, Casey started to slowly press his whole body against Donnie; sparks of pleasure starting to get hotter as they progressed.

Casey tightened his looped arm around Donnie’s neck, pulling the mutant even closer to his level, and used his free hand to hold the mutant’s head there. Casey felt teeth over his lip again, and this time he stuck out his tongue to lick them. Donnie bit it, which only made Casey like it more.

Fuck. This wasn’t like anything else Casey had tried, with any the few girlfriends he’d had before. It wasn’t just the scales, or the shell, or that Donnie was a guy; it was the building intensity, the on and off struggle for dominance. Donnie’s hands were tight on Casey’s waist, and Casey felt the mutant jerk ever so slightly against Casey’s lower half.

Definitely not like anything he’d tried before, but definitely the best so far.

Then, Donnie flipped their positions, putting Casey against the big lab table, and pressing onto him with hungry force.

 _Definitely_ the best so far.

With the edges of the table digging into his spine, and Donnie not easing up on holding him there, Casey’s whole body heated up. He really wished he hadn’t worn his hoody that evening, because it meant Donnie’s hands wouldn’t be ducking under the fabric to leech at his human skin’s warmth. But _Donnie_ wasn’t wearing any clothes, beyond his belt and mask, so the situation wasn’t that much of a loss.

Casey’s legs felt weak as Donnie’s tongue darted into his mouth, making him grip Donnie’s shoulders to stay upright. Ha ha, okay, this was officially into the zone where a horizontal surface would be nice.

The both of them sinking onto the concrete floor would have to do; Casey’s back resting against the drawers of the lab table, and Donnie kneeling in front of him. When Donnie tried to lift his head away, to do what Casey didn’t care, Casey tugged the mutant right back down by the purple tails of his mask; Casey’d been waiting almost two months for this, and if Donnie wasn’t going to respond to him being a gentleman, then he’d have to try being a scoundrel.

Casey’s short nails scratched against Donnie’s neck, and Donnie’s likely bruising grip tightened again. Casey nipped Donnie’s lips best he could, missing a bunch of his teeth and all. It seemed to be enough, since Donnie let out something suspiciously like a moan, and bit even harder on Casey’s own lips.

Casey pushed Donnie back, following the mutant as he did, and he readjusted their positions to sitting mostly upright; the exception that Casey was basically sitting in Donnie’s lap, legs parted around the mutant’s waist.

Donnie didn’t seem to care, roughly pulling Casey back into a kiss, and tangling his three fingers in Casey’s hair.

Casey opened his eyes briefly when something started a rumbling noise, and he quickly identified it as a sound coming from Donnie. Sounded a little like a cat’s purr, but deeper somehow. Donnie’s hands pressed against Casey’s spine, and the rumbling got louder as their kiss deepened again. The noise… it sounded predatory somehow. Now _that_ was a turn on.

Their kiss got sloppier, missing each other’s lips and biting at surrounding skin or scales instead. Not that Casey was complaining, because this was pretty great; it looked like his other self hadn’t been lying about this at least, even if he’d gotten Donnie’s temperament about romancing wrong.

Casey dragged his nails on Donnie’s biceps, and banished those thoughts. No thinking right now, only make outs.

Donnie leaned forwards again, and Casey let the mutant steadily lower him to the ground; Donnie crouching over Casey, both of them panting for breath. Casey hadn’t been completely sure about this before, just the slightest amount of doubt that he’d actually enjoy doing this with Donnie, but the hazy look in Donnie’s eyes as he stared at Casey waved those doubts.

Casey’s other self had said that Donnie had different equipment from humans, but in Casey’s opinion, as long as Donnie kept looking at him with that kind of hot and needy expression, Donnie could have tentacle dicks for all he cared.

Donnie was lowering himself onto Casey, and fuck if that knee between Casey’s legs wasn’t making his arousal even worse. Casey lifted his knee, hoping he was getting the right area between Donnie’s legs. From the soft keen Donnie made, he got it right. Donnie pressed his lips back onto Casey’s, both of them intending to restart their make out, when-

_“HEY CASEY! WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?!”_

Donnie basically leapt off of Casey, and Casey groaned at the loss of weight. “Why’d you stop, Donnie, I thought that was going well.”

_“CASEY!”_

“Because my older brother is looking for you and I never intended to even _try_ doing this and this is so wrong honestly-” Donnie said in a rush, putting a whole five feet between him and Casey. “-I like April and not you, definitely not you I _hate_ you, you’re loud and annoying and have no sense of preservation, you smell and you’re always wearing the same stupid hoody I mean do you even _wash_ that thing, and you’re the guy who’s trying to steal April’s attention and I really, really hate you, so why the _hell_ did we just do that?!”

_“CASEY GET OUT HERE OR I’M LEAVING WITHOUT YOU!”_

“Becaaaaaaaause… it was kinda awesome?” Casey offered as an explanation, propping himself up on his elbows to look at Donnie.

“I told you multiple times I didn’t want you doing that kind of thing to me, that I have _no interest_ what so ever in you,” Donnie said, crossing his legs and looking away from Casey.

Casey noted that his jeans were definitely not hiding anything, and also tried to cover his semi. “You didn’t seem uninterested when you were macking on my face.”

“You coerced me. I-I didn’t want to.”

“C’mon Donnie, we both know you could’ve thrown me off any time you wanted,” Casey said with an exasperated sigh. “You’re like twice my weight, and probably that much stronger than me too. If you didn’t want me doing that, you could’ve just knocked me out with some fancy ninja technique and dumped my ass outside the lab. But…. you didn’t. Obviously.”

 _“Obviously.”_ Donnie muttered, rubbing a hand over his face. Donnie sighed into his palm, hiding most of his expression from Casey. “We’re not talking about this. Not ever again. No one finds out, and it’ll be like nothing happened, okay?”

“Well… I’m not opposed to that, no one has to know ‘cept us. That’s fair,” Casey scooted over to Donnie, kneeling down in front of the mutant. “But… you didn’t say we couldn’t do it again, just that we don’t tell anyone.”

“I… I guess I didn’t,” Donnie said, letting Casey’s hands land on his hunched shoulders. Casey waited until Donnie looked at him again, the mutant visibly weighing their options. “Promise you’ll tell no one, not even Raph?”

“Cross my heart,” Casey swore, miming an X over his heart, because like he’d tell Raph about this anyways.

“…okay then.”

“Okay we’ll do it again?”

“Do what? We’re not doing anything,” Donnie said, pulling Casey the rest of the way down and pressing a not-quite-soft kiss on his lips.

“Oh. Yeah, nothin’ at all,” Casey agreed around their kiss, because that was totally fine by him. This could be their secret and theirs alone.

_“CASEY, WHERE THE FUCK DID YOU GO?!”_

Donnie grumbled, breaking the kiss off. “I think you’re wanted.”

“Eh, I’d rather be here right now,” Even though he’d kinda been planning on a long night of cracking skulls.

“Get out of here Jones, or someone’ll come looking,” Donnie said, pushing Casey off him.

Casey groaned, hearing Raph call his name again, and for once, not wanting to answer. “We pick this up later, a’ight? We were so not done with this.”

“We weren’t doing anything, so how could we finish it?” Donnie asked blithely, getting up from the floor and walking away from Casey.

“Oh. Yeah. Nothing doing. I’ll see you later, Donnie.”

“Bye Jones, don’t let the door hit you on the way out.”

“Your door is a sliding door.”

“Exactly. Don’t lose a finger.”

Casey scoffed, shrugging out of his hoodie and tying it around his waist to hide his mildly embarrassing, persisting physical interest in Donnie. As he snuck back out of the lab, purposefully leaving the door open just to annoy Donnie, he made careful sure that Raph didn’t see him until he was dressed for patrol.

Raph asked him where the hell he’d been, and Casey said he’d been taking a nap and that Raph had been an asshole wake up call.

Raph punched him in the shoulder, and let the subject drop.

Casey waited until he was home again, way late that night; to revisit the experience he’d had with Donnie. Not that there _had_ been an experience. Nope, they weren’t doing anything, nothing at all.

Absolutely nothing.

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warnings for slurs, homophobia, and internalized self-image issues. Also, dehumanizing comments, and general disrespect for same-sex relationships.
> 
> We good? Good. Enjoy the chapter. (sorry for taking so long, been a busy bee over here lately. Lots of other stories to write and such.)

 

 

Donnie glanced at his assembled family members, checking in case one of them had seen him leave the group. None of them had even noticed.

Casey tugged more insistently on Donnie’s arm, pulling him into the garage they’d just left with their friends and family. End of the night, a successful patrol concluded; everyone was heading off to watch a movie before April and Casey went home. Or at least, everyone _except_ Donnie and Casey.

Slipping around the corner, into one of the tunnels Donnie used to store their vehicles, Casey dropped his mask and pulled Donnie close. Donnie let the human do so, and almost shivered as Casey’s mammalian warm lips met his reptilian cold ones.

In the back of his mind, Donnie’s voice of reason exclaimed very loudly that this was a bad idea.

Casey’s thick hockey gloves had disappeared a while ago, and his long fingers were gripping Donnie’s shoulders. Hot and strong, Casey still burning from their earlier scuffle with some Purple Dragons. He smelled like sweat and iron, a small cut through his sweat shirt drawing blood just enough to linger.

Casey’s method to making out seemed to be the same as everything else he did: diving head first and with unrelenting determination.

Donnie pressed down on the urge to chrr, to make the purr that always happened when he-

Casey suddenly jerked them both towards the wall, and Donnie followed him without breaking off the kiss. When Casey’s back knocked into the wall, his hips bounced back enough they met Donnie’s.

Donnie actually did shiver that time, the combination of the cool stones and warm body pressing against him- the shiver traveled through his whole body, right to his budding arousal.

Donnie let slip a chhrp, just for a split second, but he cut it off in embarrassment. This was getting out of hand.

Donnie broke off his and Casey’s kiss, pushing away from the human. Casey whined, and asked why he was cutting off their victory make out, but Donnie ignored him. They needed to cool down, _Donnie_ needed to cool down.

Casey grumbled the whole way, but he did end up following Donnie out of the garage area. When they got back to the lair, Donnie again ignored Casey’s questioning looks, and retreated to his lab. From the looks of things, as Casey seamlessly rejoined the group, no one had noticed their absence. Small blessings.

As soon as he’d shut the doors, Donnie leaned heavily on it, and slid down to the floor. He put his head in his hands, and took a long, deep breath. It took a few of those before he could curl his tail back into its hiding place, and calm the rapid pace of his heart.

The places Casey had been gripping still felt warm, Donnie’s scales holding onto the heat. They burned, same as his lips were.

Donnie’s voice of reason said he should get as far from Casey as he could, and never look back.

Another, hungrier, voice of reason said he should go and drag the human into his lab; get him alone and continue what they’d been doing.

A small and vicious voice said there was no way this would end well. It was mostly drowned out by the second voice.

Donnie didn’t move from his slump, scrubbing his face in exhausted and embarrassed stress.

“What the hell am I doing,” Donnie muttered under his breath.

 

 

 

Donnie had expected Casey to forget about that moment in the lab; the confrontation that led to them both being on the floor, and Donnie losing his self-control in the process. He’d expected that they’d never speak of it again, and Casey, having accomplished whatever prank that’d been… would just leave Donnie alone. Finally.

But, the next time Casey had shown up in the lair, it’d taken only ten minutes for the human to seek Donnie out. In the scant half hour before they’d all gone out on patrol, Donnie had been thoroughly distracted by Casey’s presence in his lab.

Donnie had intended to ignore Casey. He hadn’t followed through on that intention.

How no one had noticed Casey’s flushed cheeks and red lips, Donnie didn’t know. Though, he did notice that his brothers caught the scent of Donnie’s shameful arousal. Thank god, they hadn’t said anything, and let it go unacknowledged.

Sometimes, it was really hard being a mutant turtle; no one could have a private moment to masturbate without everyone else knowing, unless they took a shower right afterwards.

Donnie was just lucky no one had caught his scent on Casey; with Casey’s natural secretion of sweat, combined his filthy vigilante gear, it masked everything. For now at least, since it was only a matter of time…

A very large part of Donnie was terrified what would happen if his family found out.

How would his brothers react? How would _April_ react?? God, how would his _father_ react?!

That was a big reason why Donnie was so hesitant to go beyond just kissing. The idea of his family finding out… and then _rejecting_ him for being not just queer, but two-timing as well…

Donnie might not be dating April officially, but it went unsaid that he’d never cheat on her.

Except. He was. With his rival no less.

Donnie’s emotions flipped between guilty pleasure, and self-loathing blame. He shouldn’t be doing the things he did with Casey, it would only end badly. Either his family and April would find out, and they’d be disgusted, or eventually… Casey would come to whatever was left of his senses, and ditch Donnie all together. Go back to pursuing April exclusively.

Donnie wasn’t even sure what he wanted anymore.

Being left alone had seemed desirable at first, but then… Casey didn’t stop seeking Donnie out. Kept pulling him around corners, and basically demanding they make out. Stealing momentary touches when no one else was around, sending secret and suggestive glances his way, bothering and pushing until Donnie agreed to kiss him…

Someone was going to notice. Someone was going to figure it out and call Donnie and Casey on their activities. Or, Casey was suddenly going to wander off, and refuse to acknowledge the affair had ever happened in the first place.

Likely speaking… the last would happen once Casey finally got what he’d been asking for. The next step after making out. The step Donnie was absolutely sure would drive anyone away. Even Casey.

 

 

 

True to the typical course of events lately, two weeks into their affair, and following a particularly short fight the Foot clan; Casey dragged Donnie again away from their friends and family. Dropping his gear, Casey grabbed Donnie and attempted to start their make out.

“Hn, c’mon Don, you’re killin’ me here,” Casey whined, tugging on Donnie’s mask tails. “Stop being so distracted like, ‘n focus on me for once.”

“Shh, someone’ll hear you,” Donnie mumbled, keeping half an ear for any approaching spectators.

“No one’s gonna notice, they’re too busy hangin’ with those mutani-something somethings.”

“Mighty Mutanimals,” Donnie corrected automatically.

“Wow, don’t care,” Casey said, and then cut off any reply Donnie could have made; pressing his lips against Donnie’s, and refusing to release his hold around Donnie’s neck.

Casey, like always after a fight, burned with extra heat. Everywhere the human held, it left hot spots on Donnie’s scales. Donnie was almost always cold, no sunlight in the sewers and drafty heating at best. Getting to touch and hold someone who naturally produced so much internal heat, it was almost as enjoyable as the actual kissing was.

It did not however, help Donnie to keep his less than appealing parts in check. As Casey’s blunt nails dragged on Donnie’s neck, warm lips pressed harshly against his scales, Donnie’s tail attempted to slip out from where he kept it hidden.

He forced it to curl away, and tried to control the pooling desire in his stomach. Unfair, so unfair. Casey probably didn’t even know he had a tail, let alone what it was meant to do…

Donnie tried to lean away, take a breather and find his composure again, but Casey tugged him back hard enough they both stumbled. Casey’s back knocked into the wall of their chosen alley, and Donnie’s stumble meant he landed heavily against the human’s shoulders.

The sound that came out of Casey’s mouth when that happened, it sounded very suspiciously like a moan. Donnie froze, hovering slightly away from Casey’s lips. He examined the other boy’s expression, looking for pain or…

Casey’s cheeks were flushed, and he still had the slightly manic look he always got during fights. The one that you could just see in his eyes; the one that read very clearly, that he was looking for a challenge, for a real fight.

That whatever you’d just done to him, it’d made him excited.

“Whatcha lookin’ at?” Casey asked with a smirk. “Like what you see?”

Donnie didn’t respond to the mildly aggravating comment. Instead, he decided to test a theory.

Donnie slid his hands along Casey’s shoulders, moving them to right beside the human’s neck. Donnie leaned in, and kissed Casey the same time as he gripped tightly; digging his fingers in almost, but not quite, on Casey’s delicate windpipe and collar bone.

One squeeze in the right spot, Donnie could very easily crush Casey’s windpipe. He was strong enough, and they both knew it.

Casey groaned into their kiss, and gripped hard as was able in return; his long fingers finding places to lock around on Donnie’s shoulders. Casey’s hips jerked forwards, and pressed against Donnie’s. Donnie could very clearly feel Casey’s jockstrap, though he had a feeling there might be something else hard right behind it.

Casey jones was turned on by mild pain and actions that went against self-preservation.

Why was he not surprised.

Donnie leaned away again, looking at his… friend’s(?) flushed expression. Casey was panting, and didn’t seem in any hurry to remove Donnie’s hold on him.

“There’s something wrong with you,” Donnie muttered, because there definitely was something wrong with Casey. Multiple things.

All he got was a laugh in response, Casey’s signature sardonic grin aimed directly at Donnie.

Pressed against the human, Donnie could feel the laugh in his plastron. It almost made him shiver, combining with the warmth and arousal that’d already been there.

“Shut up,” Donnie hissed, pushing Casey against the wall again and biting the smirk away. If Casey’s enthusiastic response was anything to go by, he was enjoying that reaction from Donnie.

However, when Casey started to grind against Donnie’s hips, Donnie forced himself to back off. Too much stimulation, he was having a harder and harder time keeping his tail hidden. If he didn’t stop now, he wouldn’t have enough self-control to keep himself clear headed. Clear headed-ish. Making out made things a bit fuzzy, even for a genius.

Casey grumbled, and then whined about Donnie cutting off their make out, _again_ , just when they’d gotten to the best part.

“We’re in an alleyway. Its unsanitary,” Donnie supplied as an excuse. “And the rest of the team must’ve noticed by now. We need to go back.”

“You live in the sewers, and last time we did this, those guys didn’t notice for a full hour that we were gone.”

“I’ve got things to do back home, let’s get going,” Donnie said, purposefully avoiding Casey’s points of reasoning.

Casey griped as he picked up his abandoned gear. “Man, you do this every time…”

Donnie’s formerly warm feelings turned cold, and his ten minutes of pleasure soured. Well, at least his arousal was gone now. Nothing like guilt and embarrassment to make you lose a boner. Especially when combined with shame and self-disgust.

 

 

 

Donnie liked himself well enough. Or, he had when he was younger. Getting older made his self-confidence turn on itself, and pull an ouroboros. Now he only found worth in his intelligence; his physical self on the other hand, came second in importance.

The realization of what sexual needs were, and the following awareness of exactly what he was, made it hard to keep positive about his own body. Donnie had comforted himself with the fact that he’d never talk to a human, so what did his body matter anyways? All it needed to be was strong enough to practice ninjutsu, and let him work on his experiments. Debating how attractive you are, or aren’t, is moot point when you live in isolation.

Lately though, his body and how it looked mattered more and more. Beyond just the issue with getting April to return his feelings, now he had Casey actively asking for a chance to… to have sex. Or something close to it.

Kissing was one thing, same as what Donnie had decided to call ‘heavy petting’, but actually involving genitalia…

Forget being worried about his family finding out, the idea of Casey seeing Donnie’s lower body, and using the original name he’d had for them… it made Donnie’s stomach churn, and his anxiety sky rocket.

Casey had apologized off-handedly, to Raph and then rest of Donnie’s family, for using the derogatory phrases he had when they’d all first met.

Donnie didn’t like Casey and cared little for his opinion on anything, (he didn’t and no one could say otherwise), but that didn’t mean he wanted to let the human see a part of himself even _he_ didn’t like.

It’d put an end to whatever they were doing, sneaking around together like they were. One peek at Donnie’s tail, and Casey would go back to looking exclusively at April. Not that Donnie would blame him.

Given half a chance, Donnie would ditch himself too if he had better options.

At the three week mark, and tipping into the one that would lead to the fourth, Casey seemed to be getting more and more impatient with Donnie. The more times Donnie cut their sessions short, the grumpier Casey got afterwards. The human still came back though, starting the next interaction with just as much enthusiasm as the last.

Casey hadn’t actually _asked_ per-say for them to have a show-and-tell, but Donnie didn’t need to have an above average IQ to tell what the human wanted. In all honesty, Donnie wanted it too. But with the firm knowledge that it would end everything, likely including his chances with April, Donnie kept dodging Casey’s requests to take things further.

Maybe Casey thought Donnie was playing hard to get. Donnie wondered how long it would be before he grew tired of that game.

But. he just couldn’t consider the idea. Of saying yes, and letting Casey’s hand dip below his waist line.

An animalistic noise slipping out on rare occasion was one thing. Displaying his very inhuman sexual anatomy for viewing and judgement was a whole other.

 

 

 

“ _Yeesh_ , watch where you’re pokin’ that thing, Donnie.”

“Shut up, and keep still. I need to concentrate. I don’t want to accidentally hurt you.”

Casey hissed through his teeth, tensing up. “Je- _sus_ -christ Donnie, where the hell were you keepin’ that anyways?”

“I’m not explaining that to you, just hold still and we can get this over with.”

“You make it sound like you don’t wanna hang around me.”

“I don’t. This is just business right now.”

“ _Fuck-!_ I told you to watch it, that hurt!”

“I’m being as careful as I can; it’s not _my_ fault you keep tensing up.”

“How could I not, that thing’s like four inches or somethin’.”

“Its three and a half for your information, now hold still or- _fuck!”_ Donnie cursed his odd numbered fingers, watching his spare kunai drop to the ground below them. “Oh, well that’s just _great_. That was our escape route genius. I told you to stop wriggling around!”

Casey, to spite Donnie obviously, wriggled again in the chains wrapped around them. “ _You_ kept pokin’ me with it! That thing was fucking sharp!”

“ _Because it’s a deadly throwing weapon, of course it’s sharp!”_ Donnie hissed angrily, before going slack and making them swing lazily in the air. “You know what, I give up. The others will find us eventually, and I’m just going to hang here and wish this was over already.”

“I don’t understand why you didn’t just pick the lock or somethin’,” Casey said, half complaining. “Don’t you have a kit for that? I’m pretty sure you had a kit for that.”

“Yeah, _had_. They confiscated it, idiot; they took it along with everything else.”

“Oh yeah.”

Donnie sighed, eyes drifting around the warehouse they were hung in. He felt really stupid, and not just because he was hanging in a cocoon of chains. He was feeling embarrassed because of all their enemies to capture them… it’d been the Purple Dragons.

God. Raph was never going to let him live this down.

Though to be fair, the gangsters had had sleeping gas canisters. Not even a ninja could combat airborne attacks like that. Where the men had gotten that gas, or why they hadn’t used it before, was a mystery. Mostly, Donnie just wanted off the shipping crane holding them in the air, and away from the annoyingly (arousingly) warm body pressed against him.

Why did life hate him? Specifically him, out of all his brothers?

Casey shifted again, and with how tightly they were pressed together, Donnie felt every movement. He sighed, and prayed to either be rescued soon or just struck down already.

“Please stop squirming. Its making literally nothing better.”

“I- fuck. I can’t get comfortable, alright? Just- dammnit- just lemme get comfy and we can hang here until your bros show up.”

“They better show up soon…” Donnie muttered, studiously ignoring the sensation of Casey rubbing against him. They were front to front, which made it worse really. Casey’s hands were pinned to his sides, and _way_ too close to Donnie’s crotch area.

Why this. Why any of this.

Small mercies, at least Donnie didn’t have anything to show his slight arousal in that particular area. His tail was still hiding, as it should be, but Casey’s fidgeting was making that a bit hard to maintain.

Where the hell were his brothers? They’d escaped the gas attack obviously, but where had they gone? Donnie couldn’t tell how long he and Casey had been out, or where their location was, but it couldn’t have been too long. Donnie’s physical make up shook off medicinal or chemical attacks too quick for it to be longer than an hour or two.

Though, he was now privately wishing his anatomy was _quite_ so quick acting.

Donnie was grateful for the distraction of voices approaching, and he craned his head to look towards them. Ah, the rest of their captors. There’d been a few guards watching them when Donnie woke up, but now there was easily thirty some men; a couple women dotted here and there.

He had no weapons, and neither did Casey; and while Donnie trusted his hand-to-hand to save his own shell, he wasn’t sure if Casey would make it unscathed. But that was if they’d cut the padlock on the chains, which they hadn’t, because Casey wouldn’t stop wiggling and oh for the love of god- _he still was._

“ _Stop it!”_ Donnie whispered, knocking his forehead against Casey’s. “We’ve got guests, act professional.”

“I believe you’re _our_ guests,” One of the gang members called up at them, eliciting a laugh from the whole group.

Donnie grumbled, glaring down at the man. “Alright, you caught us. What do you plan on doing with us exactly?”

“If you didn’t know it, mutant, the Shredder put out a hefty reward for any of you or your friends,” The same gang member replied, pointing to a companion of his who was on the phone. “One phone tip, a short bank transaction, and we’ll be rolling in some serious cash. Thanks for making it so easy, runnin’ right into our trap like that…”

Another round of laughter, and Donnie rolled his eyes. Honestly, the Shredder was about as likely to fulfill that promise as Mikey was to sit still for a full ten minutes. If anything, the men below Donnie and Casey were going to end up dead. Oh well, not Donnie’s problem. Their dumb mistake, trusting a man like the Shredder.

Donnie half listened to the chatter below, checking in case someone let slip valuable information. Shouldn’t be too long now, the Purple Dragons were low class criminals; they wouldn’t have chosen a hideout that Donnie’s family couldn’t find. Not to mention, even from twenty feet above the ground, Donnie could see his t-phone still in his belt. The auto locator app Donnie had programmed for them all, it’d lead his brothers straight to the warehouse.

That is, if they remembered to use it.

He really, really hoped they did. They had a tendency to forget it existed, that helpful little app he’d spent three days perfecting.

Something jabbed Donnie’s leg, and the warmth of it distracted him entirely from criticism of his family.

Donnie looked at Casey, dead in the eyes. Casey avoided his gaze.

Seriously?

“Seriously?” Donnie said, deeply unimpressed with the human’s lack of control.

“Sh-shut up, s’why I was trying to find a different position,” Casey mumbled, uncharacteristic redness lighting his cheeks and ears.

“Casey, we’re in mortal danger right now.”

“I’m not meaning to! Sometimes it just happens.”

“If I can control myself, then you should be able to too.”

“So… you sayin’ you’re _also_ turned on?” Casey asked, sly grin replacing his sheepish one.

“I’m not having this conversation.”

“Oh my god you _are_. That’s embarrassing.”

“Oh for- _Casey!_ You literally have no leg to stand on about that subject!”

“You like it with chains and bondage, huh? Isn’t that a song? Hm hm _chains and whips exciiiite me-”_

“Shut up shut up _shut up-”_

“Holy shit, are they flirting?” Someone asked below.

Donnie’s embarrassment was replaced by coldness, and Casey’s teasing abruptly cut off.

“That’s fucking disgusting. Faggots _and_ muties.”

“Faggot muties.”

“ _Ha!_ That’s so gross, don’t even say that.”

“Hey, hey wait- I remember now, that one kid up there, I think he’s fuckin’ the turtle.”

Donnie shut his eyes, and didn’t miss how Casey stiffened at the accusation.

“Shit, they are. Yeah, that kid hit me over the head a few weeks back, almost forgot about it.”

“Now that’s _really_ disgusting.”

“Does a mutant turtle even have those parts? Calls itself a guy after all, but I ain’t seen nothin’ down there, am I right?”

A round of rancorous laughter, and Donnie wondered if it was possible to actually will himself out of existence.

“Bet it takes it up the ass.”

“Holy shit, fuckin’ nasty. There’s no way that kid’s actually stickin’ his dick in that-”

 _“Hey freaks! Which one o’ you is the guy, and which one o’ you is the girl?”_ Someone hollered up at them. More laughter followed the man’s question, and Donnie started to really miss being unconscious.

“Think you can get salmonella from fuckin’ a turtle?”

“I dunno, why don’t you ask the kid?”

_“Hey faggot! You get salmonella from fuckin’ the mutie?”_

“How would that even work, wouldn’t the shell get in the way?”

“God, my dick feels mangled just thinkin’ about it.”

“I’d never, like, not even if you paid me a solid mil’-”

“I mean. Maybe? A million is a lot of money.”

“Yeah, but your _dick_ man. It’d suffer. Like, that’s so gross I’d rather invert my own dick.”

“It’s bestiality too.”

“ _Disgusting.”_

Donnie kept his eyes shut, and started going over designs he had for a Shellraiser upgrade. He’d need to get new fuel connection, a bigger one, because Leo had the tendency to gun the engine even though he wasn’t supposed to-

_“-freaky if you think about it too long, dunno what that kid’s thinkin’-”_

-and he. he needed to replace the shocks, give them more resistance to rocky terrain-

 _“-queer is one thing, but_ that? _Sick in the head I tell ya-”_

-or maybe he’d just overhaul the whole brake design, because they’d been spinning out of control too often lately, and…

“- _fucking freaks, literally-!”_

Donnie sighed, and let the half formed thoughts fade away. Well, this was just torturous now. Getting chained up was unpleasant to begin with, but being chained up and mocked? Not that they were wrong per say…

He just wanted this night to be over, to go home and hide in his experiments until he could forget this ever happened. Usually, he could let comments like that slide off, but involving his sexuality _and_ Casey… well. Seemed like he’d be spending a lot of time not thinking, by thinking of everything _except_ this evening.

Then, Casey suddenly started wiggling again, but this time-

“HEY DICKHEADS!” Casey hollered, thrashing around so he could look down at the humans below. “YEAH. FUCKING YOU. LEMME DOWN AND TRY SAYIN’ THAT TO MY FUCKIN’ FACE!”

Donnie blinked, and then sighed again. Of course. An insult to his manhood wouldn’t go unanswered. “Casey, just let it go, it doesn’t mean anything-”

“No, no shut up- It _does_ mean shit. They don’t get to say that and not get my damn fist-” Casey sputtered angrily, making them spin a bit in midair. “YOU HEARD ME FUCKERS; NO ONE SAYS SHIT LIKE THAT AND GETS AWAY WITH IT. _Buncha god damn cowards_ \- YOU WANNA PIECE OF ME?! WHEN I GET DOWN THERE SO HELP ME GOD-”

“Casey- Casey what-?” Donnie pushed his arm around underneath their chains, grabbing at Casey’s clenching fist. No way, was he really-? “Are you defending my _honor?_ ”

“The fuck do you think I’m doing?” Casey asked, turning his glare on Donnie.

Donnie paused, examining the livid, the absolutely _livid_ anger in Casey’s expression.

Huh.

“People say that kind of thing about me and my brothers all the time, just let it go,” Donnie said, for lack of better things. “It doesn’t matter.”

“No, it so fucking _does_. They don’t- they don’t get to just call you- us- _they don’t get to say that!”_   Casey exclaimed furiously. “Ain’t their god damn business who I’m with or not, and they don’t get to just- just _laugh_ about you an’ me. I- I ain’t lettin’ that go.”

“…oh,” Donnie said.

The laughter below continued, different gang members taking shots at Donnie and Casey’s relationship. (Which is wasn’t one. It was just a thing they did.) But it turned into background noise, as Donnie looked at Casey.

“You don’t have to do that.”

“Yeah I do. D’you expect me to just hang around an’ let ‘em say that stuff?”

“Well…” Donnie said, glancing away.

A look of genuine hurt flickered over Casey’s face. “Aw what, c’mon Don, I wouldn’t do that-”

“No, no I mean I just- it’s just words. It doesn’t matter. You don’t need to.”

“I’m still not gonna take it lyin’ down.”

Donnie opened his mouth to say Casey didn’t need to get upset, that it was pointless to yell insults at people who wouldn’t give a damn, (the men were right anyways, it didn’t matter what Casey said, they were still right-), but shattering glass interrupted him.

Mikey’s gleeful battle cry distracted the whole of the humans, while Raph and Leo snuck around their backs and started taking them out from there. The crane started moving, and a quick glance over to the control panel revealed April’s position. She smiled at Donnie and Casey, waving briefly as she lowered them to the ground.

By the time Donnie’s feet touched cold cement, all of their former captors were either gone, or knocked out.

A well placed sai and then a quick wrench- and Raph got Donnie and Casey free. Donnie opted to ignore the glances Casey was giving him, and focus on basking in April’s attention.

That whole interaction, Donnie wasn’t sure what to think of it.

Mostly, he didn’t want to.

He just… he just wanted to go home, and fill his head with other things for a while. Just until the comments the humans had made faded away, and he could pretend they hadn’t been said.

He wasn’t sure if he was going to ignore what Casey had said.

_“You don’t have to do that.”_

_“Yeah I do. D’you expect me to just hang around an’ let ‘em say that stuff?”_

Donnie avoided Casey, sitting in the far back of the Shellraiser while Casey sat in the front with Raph. Maybe if he didn’t acknowledge the human, he’d leave Donnie alone, and they wouldn’t have to interact again for the rest of the evening.

Donnie was too tired to play their game; he just wanted to be alone.

Thankfully, he got just that. When they arrived back underground, everyone except Donnie filed out of the vehicle.

“You comin’ Dee? We’re gonna make popcorn an’ pizza,” Mikey asked, pausing in the doorway. “An’ like, Sensei wanted to have a word or something…”

Donnie waved him off, trying to smile convincingly. “I’m fine here. I need to do some maintenance on the Shellraiser anyways, have some time to myself. Tell Sensei I’ll be back in time for curfew. Please, Mikey?”

“Mmmmm… yeah, okay Donnie, don’t stay up too late though.”

“I won’t. Promise,” Donnie said, lying smoothly as he could. Mikey gave him one last look, and then left Donnie alone in the garage.

Donnie was grateful for the solitude. But… no one else had even glanced backwards, none of his elder brothers checking up on him past the first injury search. And Donnie hadn’t seen Casey look at him at all, not since Raph had taken his attention.

Well. Donnie had gotten what he’d asked for. Time to enjoy it.

Donnie leaned his reclaimed Bo staff by the door, and started turning off the monitors throughout the interior. A quick screen wiping, then he could move onto the floors, and once that repetitive task was over he’d crawl under the tank of a vehicle and start examining the shocks…

Donnie paused in front of a newly dark screen, examining the blurry reflection looking back. Even with the distortion, he could make out his green scaly skin, and red eyes. Flat nose, small lips, hairless everything…

 _“Now that’s_ really _disgusting.”_

“Like you’re a catch,” Donnie muttered to himself and the echoing insult. He turned away from the screen, going to the panel in the floor where he kept their cleaning supplies.

He’d just started to bend down, when the back door to the Shellraiser opened and let light inside. Casey stood outside the vehicle, missing his vigilante gear. Donnie glanced behind the human; no one else was with him.

“You forget something?” Donnie asked, standing up from his crouch.

“Mm, nah. Just came back to do something,” Casey replied, stepping up into the Shellraiser. He shut the door behind him, and closed the area into dimness again.

Donnie stepped away; busying himself with picking up some loose throwing stars someone had left behind. Casey would hopefully leave soon, once he’d done whatever he needed to. Donnie didn’t want company; he’d like to wallow in his misery alone, thank you very much.

The hands settling on his hips surprised him into freezing. Donnie swallowed, as Casey hands closed with gentle tightness over Donnie’s thighs.

Donnie turned around, a myriad of emotions churning through him. “What the hell are you doing?”

“You,” Casey replied, trying to step forwards into a kiss.

“Wha- no, Casey stop. I just want to be alone right now,” Donnie said, pushing Casey away.

Casey let him, but the human’s expression settled into a frown. “You know, I really feel like you shouldn’t be alone righ’ now.”

“No, I really should,” Donnie insisted. Dealing with an insistent human, _and_ his shameful dysphoria? Not tonight, he didn’t have enough energy for that. “Just- why aren’t you with Raph? Or April for that matter.”

“Because you’re feeling shitty, an’ I wanna help you _not_ feel shitty,” Casey replied, moving into Donnie’s personal bubble again. “And, I mean, the best way to do that is… well. You know what I mean.”

“I don’t,” Donnie said, brushing Casey’s hands away again. “I don’t know what you mean. I just want you to leave right now.”

“Eurgh, can’t believe you’re makin’ me say it out loud…” Casey blew a harsh sigh out, rubbing a hand over his face. “Okay, so you want me to spell it out for you? Fine. I’m proposin’ we take things a step further than usual, and try something new. I- god this is really stupid sounding out loud- I wanna try giving you a hand job, okay?”

Donnie’s brain stopped working.

…..

…..

…..

…..

…what?

“Stop lookin’ at me like that, ‘s makin’ me feel awkward,” Casey groused, red appearing on his cheeks and ears.

Donnie kept staring at Casey, trying to connect reality and his thought process again. Seriously? There was no way.

“Did you hit your head when I wasn’t looking?” Donnie asked.

 _“Jesus dicking_ \- we’ve been makin’ out for three some weeks now. It’s a normal thing to do, alright?” Casey said, fluttering his hands around as he spoke. “I- why is this so difficult with you? I did a lot of shit with my girlfriends in the first week alone. I mean, we usually broke up a little while later, but it’s just… it’s normal to wanna do that, okay? And you were lookin’ really hurt by what those assholes said back there, an’ I wanted to make feel better.”

Donnie’s insides soured, partially because of the misplaced pity, partially because once he said yes or no, this would be the end of the line.

“I don’t want your pity,” Donnie said, only just keeping his tone civil.

“It’s not fuckin’ pity,” Casey shot back, aggravation entering his voice. “I don’t fuckin’ pity you; I wouldn’t spend time with you if I did. Just lemme try this, okay? You can go back to sulking if you don’t like it.”

 _I’m not the one who’ll dislike it_ , Donnie didn’t say. _That’ll be you._

“You don’t know what you’re getting into,” Donnie muttered, avoiding Casey’s determined gaze.

“I dunno man, other me gave me a bit of an idea…”

Donnie sputtered, caught off guard. “You discussed my _genitalia??”_

“Hey, it was a weird conversation for me too, don’t judge,” Casey snapped, his embarrassment retreating completely. “Now hold still, and we can just-”

“What- no, get off me-”

“-I’m just tryin’ to help you out-”

“-I said _no_ , okay Casey-?”

“-been doing everything else you asked, listen to _me_ for a change-”

“-you have no idea what- I don’t care what other you said, you don’t-”

“-shut _up_ for once and-”

“- _you won’t like what you see, alright?!”_ Donnie finally shouted, grabbing Casey’s shirt and hauling him close. “I don’t care what you think you’re trying to do, but I know it’s not going to be pleasant. For- for either of us. Just leave me alone, okay?”

Casey met Donnie’s eyes with a level look, unflinching in Donnie’s harried sounding words. After a moment, Casey spoke again.

“Other me said you had body issues, an’ that I wasn’t allowed to let you back out of anything just because of them. I mean, within reason an’ shit, but still,” Casey shrugged, apparently unbothered by their weird positioning. “He said you set back him and April and you getting together for a long time, ‘cause you couldn’t get your head out of your… body dys-whatsit or whatever. Dysmorphia?”

Donnie’s brain felt a bit like someone had pulled out its wires. “You… its dysphoria. You mean body dysphoria.”

Casey snapped his fingers. “Yeah, that’s the one. Anyways, let go of me, and we can get started. Dysphoria or whatever doesn’t matter; a dick’s a dick, right?”

Donnie sighed, and let go of Casey’s shirt; instead dragging his hands down his face. He suddenly felt very weary. “You have no idea what you’re asking for. Also, apparently no shame. Casey… I don’t have human genitalia, alright?”

“Well, ‘s kiiinda obvious you don’t,” Casey said, glancing down at Donnie’s crotch.

“No, I mean…” Donnie groaned, hiding behind his hands. “I can’t believe this is an actual conversation I’m having. Casey, whatever you think it looks like, you’re probably wrong. You won’t… you won’t like it. _I_ don’t even like it.”

It hurt to admit that, something Donnie hadn’t told anyone. Ever.

As far as he could tell, no one else in his family felt similarly about their bodies; it was just _Donnie_ who felt uncomfortable with his own genitalia. And everything really, there was very little Donnie actually liked about himself.

 _“Now that’s_ really _disgusting.”_

Donnie clenched his fists, ignoring the echo.

He just wanted to be alone right now. Deal with his issues on his own.

“…we ain’t gonna know that for sure, until you show me,” Casey said after a long moment. He stepped forwards, and put a hand on Donnie’s plastron. A gentle push, and the backs of Donnie’s legs met the seat behind him. “If you really don’t like it, I’ll stop. But lemme try things out first, before you go makin’ decisions for me.”

Donnie’s resolve wavered. “You sure?”

“I’m always sure,” Casey said, smirking. With another push, Donnie’s legs bent and he sat on the seat. Casey knelt, and their positions sent a small rush of excitement through Donnie. Casey licked his lips nervously, perhaps for another reason as well, and he glanced up at Donnie. “Ready?”

“I… you’re being oddly nice to me, Jones,” Donnie said, in slight awe of how slowly Casey was taking things.

“I’m not _that_ much of a jerk. I wouldn’t… this is supposed to feel good, I’m not gonna make it unpleasant,” Casey’s eyes darted to Donnie’s lower body, and Donnie resisted the need to close his legs and hide. “So… let’s get started. You can… you know, show me it an’ stuff.”

Donnie’s anxiety crawled up and down his spine, and the names he’d been called earlier whispered in his ears. Taking a deep breath, Donnie tried to calm himself down. This was his choice, and Casey was willing. (For the moment, but how much longer would that last?)

“If you’re sure…”

“I am, promise.”

Donnie took a slow breath, and willed his anxiety away. Slowly, so slowly, he started to uncurl his tail.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi. I like cliff hangers. If you couldn't tell, that is.
> 
> (Next time, my first actually detailed sexual scene? Wow. Won't that be entertaining.)


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *softly* its the sex

 

 

“Huh… s’kinda wiggly.”

Donnie sighed, and looked anywhere other than Casey. “That’s not it. That’s my tail.”

“Hm. Didn’t know you had one,” Casey said, still staring intently at Donnie’s tail. “Your bros got ‘em too?”

“Yes. We keep them out of sight.”

“How come?”

“It’s… it’s indecent. For us at least,” Donnie explained awkwardly. He slid his hand between his thighs and pointed at an indent on his tail. “It’s because… um… our genetalia is inside it.”

“Oh,” Casey said, his eyes tracing Donnie’s tail. “Huh. That’s pretty convenient, keepin’ it out of the way like that.”

“It’s not convenient,” Donnie said, internally squirming. “It’s… it’s freaky.”

“Well, I think I’ll be the judge of that,” Casey replied, quirking a smile.

Donnie bit his lip, and looked away.

He couldn’t believe he was doing this.

“So, um, you gonna show me or not?”

Donnie repressed his negative thoughts, and took a slow breath. “Yeah. Just… um, give me a second?”

Casey stayed silent, but nodded.

Donnie gently grasped his tail with both hands, taking the five and some inches of it into his palms. Pressing his thumb along the slit, he started to slowly massage the thin scales there.

A soft churr built in his throat, but he swallowed it and kept going.

Despite how cold his blood was, Donnie started to feel hotter; especially in his tail. Arousal built, curling in his gut, and the head of his cock started to emerge from its sheath.

It’s deep red and sort of purplish in some places and Donnie _hates it so much_ that he nearly loses his boner.

However-

“Wow,” Casey said, still watching. Donnie glanced at his expression, looking for disgust or revulsion or _something_ among the reactions he expected. There weren’t any, just a definite look of interest.

Casey’s long fingers slid up Donnie’s thigh, stopping just before touching his hands. Casey licked his lips again. “Can I touch it?”

Donnie swallowed, and nodded. He moved his hands away, and waited apprehensively for Casey’s humanly warm skin to meet his sensitive scales.

Casey’s finger tips brushed the area around Donnie’s cock, and then he slid his hand underneath the whole tail. His free hand tentatively hovered around the emerging head, only just touching the thin scales there.

Donnie gripped the seat cushion, a bit on a gasp as Casey’s touch landed on his sensitive membrane.

Casey’s eyes darted up at Donnie, and he pressed his thumb back against Donnie’s dick.

This time, Donnie did gasp. Compared to doing it himself, having someone else touch him was so much more arousing.

Casey grinned, rubbing his thumb over the sensitive skin of Donnie’s cock. “You like that?”

“Sh-shut up,” Donnie hissed. “Stop looking at me.”

“Kinda hard not to…” Casey replied, still looking right at Donnie. “You’re sorta really distractin’.”

Donnie tried to reply, but he bit his tongue as Casey started rubbing again.

Donnie’s breaths turned short, as Casey touched him slowly and sensually. Without him realizing it, his cock slid out fully, and stood erect for anyone to see.

Casey paused, and that gave Donnie enough of a breather to find his bearings again.

“You’re pretty big actually,” Casey commented, touching the base of Donnie’s tail and sliding his hand down it. “Wouldn’t have expected that, since it came out of such a little place.”

Donnie gave a shaky laugh. “Y-you should see regular turtles. You’re lucky I’ve got one that looks mostly like a human’s.”

Casey glanced up at him, and a slow smirk crossed his face. “You’re soundin’ a little breathless there, Dee. Feelin’ good?”

Donnie licked his lips, and nodded. ‘Good’ was an understatement, he felt shaky and hot all over. Pleasure and terrified excitement pooling in his stomach, and his heart rate upping every time Casey touched him.

And speaking of-

Casey leaned forwards, and licked the very tip of Donnie’s cock.

Donnie gasped at the sudden sensation, and his whole body tensed up. “ _Fuck_ \- what the hell are you doing?”

“Trying something,” Casey replied, sliding his hand around Donnie’s length. Donnie’s muscles tensed, and his hips unwillingly jerked forwards into the touch. Casey tongue darted out again, sliding across Donnie’s very sensitive dick head.

Donnie shuddered, a churr escaping him as Casey did the motion a third time.

“This… this isn’t what you s-said you were doing,” Donnie managed, hands shaking as they gripped the seat.

“Mm, I guess not, but-” Casey squeezed Donnie’s cock, eliciting another churr. “-I think you’re enjoying it.”

“Sh-shut up,” Donnie said with a wavering voice, only for Casey to put his tongue right back where it’d been.

Donnie panted, shuddering worse each time Casey’s hot tongue slid over his cock head. Then, Casey’s hand released him, and the human took Donnie into his mouth.

Donnie’s skull knocked against the headrest behind him, a series of loud churrs shuddering out of him as Casey bobbed his head. Donnie’s fingers tightened and untightened sporadically on his seat, and his hips jerked forwards under Casey’s ministrations.

Then, Casey pulled away, a thin trail of spit following the motion. He stared up at Donnie, lips red and spread in a grin. Donnie struggled to find words, his brain clogged by the overload of pleasure clouding his senses.

“Okay, if I’d known I could shut you up so easily, I might’ve tried this sooner,” Casey teased, a deep flush covering his cheeks and ears.

“I… hate you…” Donnie whispered, despising how broken his own voice was.

Casey tilted his head, and only grinned wider. “Hate you too, buddy.”

His nimble human fingers slid back around Donnie’s cock, and he held it still as he dragged his hot tongue along the length.

Donnie gasped, and to his deepest embarrassment, moaned loudly.

Thank every god in existence the garage was so far from the lair.

Casey’s fingers smeared the pearling precome on Donnie’s head, mixing with the spit left there by his tongue. With the natural lube, plus the slight slipperiness of Donnie’s cock, it made it easier for Casey to slide his hand up and down, pumping agonizingly slow.

“Hn, f-faster,” Donnie gasped.

“Hm?”

 _“Faster,”_ Donnie gasped again, his cock throbbing.

Miracles of miracles, Casey complied.

“Ah- ah- _fuck-_ ” Donnie’s toes curled, and his head tipped back. He felt hot and dizzy and his cock throbbed harder every time Casey pumped his hand.  “I- fuck- Casey, I’m-”

Casey’s hand was replaced by his burning hot mouth again, and Donnie lost all coherent thought.

He couldn’t focus on anything, except the warm and wet sensation of Casey sucking his dick. The feeling of the human’s tongue swirling around his cock drove more churrs out of Donnie, caught between his gasps for breath.

Casey hadn’t even taken the full length into his mouth, only going an inch down. But it was more than enough to overwhelm Donnie.

Donnie’s hands somehow found their way into Casey’s hair, and he clutched the black follicles as Casey swirled his tongue. Donnie tried to not, but his hips involuntarily jerked forwards, pushing his cock deeper into Casey’s mouth.

“S-sorry- I-” Donnie gasped as Casey sucked harder, and his fingers tightened in his friend’s hair.

Casey’s nails dug into Donnie’s thighs, and his teeth scraped slightly on the thin skin of Donnie’s dick. Neither sensation bothered Donnie; if anything, it made the pleasure worse.

He could feel himself nearing the edge, shudders traveling down his limbs and turning into throbs in his cock.

“C-Casey, I’m- I can’t-”

Casey pulled away slowly, easing off Donnie’s length with a long, wet, slide.

“Can’t what?” Casey asked, eyes dark and wide. He ran his hand along Donnie’s cock again, squeezing all the right spots.

“C-can’t do this much longer,” Donnie panted, thoughts feeling sluggish and clouded.

Casey ran his tongue over his swollen lips, and smirked. “That’s the idea of things.”

The moment he put that tongue back onto Donnie’s cock, the head weeping pearly drips of come, Donnie crested over the edge.

Donnie’s whole body shuddered with his orgasm, hands fisted tightly in Casey’s hair as he rode it out. He gasped loud and ragged, completely overwhelmed by the tide of pleasure spreading through his whole body.

Pearlescent come landed on Casey’s lips, across his chin, and dripped onto his sweatshirt. Donnie’s shaking hands released the human’s hair, and slumped back in the chair he sat on.

Donnie stared at Casey, taking in the filthy and erotic look his friend now had. Casey stared back, seeming also caught in whatever the moment had become.

Then, Casey licked his lips, catching some of Donnie’s come on his tongue. “Huh. Salty.”

All at once, the gravity of the situation caught up with Donnie.

“Oh my god- no don’t _taste it_ ,” Donnie looked around hurriedly, searching for paper towels or a spare grease cloth or _something_. “Jesus- I’m so sorry, I tried to warn you, I-I didn’t mean to do that-”

“Its fine, chill,” Casey said. “See? Look.” He pulled off his sweatshirt, and wiped everything away with it. “We’re cool. This thing needed a wash anyways.”

Donnie struggled to sit up, but his legs weren’t cooperating. He gave up, and slumped back into the seat. He covered his face; hiding best he could as his tail slid away, and his cock retreated once more.

“Ooooohmygod I can’t believe I just _did that,”_ Donnie groaned, furiously embarrassed.

“I dunno, seemed like you enjoyed it, so I think that went well.”

Donnie peeked between his fingers, shame still burning his cold cheeks. “I- I came all over your- your- _fuck,_ I can’t even say it.”

“I kinda like that no talking thing,” Casey teased, looking satisfied with himself despite the red dusting his cheeks. “You should do that more often.”

“Fuck you,” Donnie hissed, still struggling with his unending mortification.

“Nah, I’m pretty I get to say that today,” Casey replied, waggling his eyebrows.

Donnie hid behind his hands again, and groaned.

“Hey, c’mon,” Donnie heard the sound of Casey standing up, and then his hands closed on Donnie’s wrists; drawing them away from his face. Casey gave him an unusually shy look, glancing nervously at Donnie. “You liked that, right? S’my first time tryin’ it.”

Seeing that he wasn’t alone in feeling awkward, some of Donnie’s embarrassment drained away. He smiled lopsidedly, still feeling fuzzy from his orgasm. “Um, if you couldn’t tell from that, uh, embarrassing end there, I did. A lot.”

Casey laughed, his own smile turning lopsided. “That’s. That’s good. Okay. Great.”

“Any more adjectives to add?” Donnie said, taking a turn at teasing.

“Um. Nope.”

Then he leaned in, and tried to peck Donnie on the lips. Donnie sputtered, trying to avoid the attempt. “Casey- ew no that’s gross! You just had ejaculation fluids on your face!”

“Aaaaand the words are back,” Casey mumbled, still trying to press a kiss on Donnie’s face.

“Noooooooo…”

“Shh, c’mon, I’m the one who sucked a dick at least give me this.”

“Urgh, _fine_.”

Casey laughed, and shoved his nose against Donnie’s flat one; catching Donnie’s lips with his.

Donnie knocked his forehead against Casey’s, doing his best to scowl. “You’re disgusting.”

“And _you’re_ a hot mess,” Casey grinned cheekily.

Donnie’s expression screwed up caught between embarrassment and bashfulness. Not fair, he was still recovering.

For petty revenge, he switched who was grabbing who, and tugged Casey into another kiss. He bit the human’s already swollen lip, feeling brave enough to give it a short suck. Casey’s groan gave Donnie all the answer he needed as to whether or not he enjoyed that.

They made out for another minute, before Donnie broke it off and they both stopped; panting as they stared at one another.

“You…” Donnie swallowed, tasting sweat and salt on his tongue. “You’re going to have to take a shower tonight, and leave right away. If you go near my brothers like this, they’ll know what happened.”

“What, is it that obvious?” Casey asked sarcastically, rolling his eyes. “I’m pretty sure the shit you did to my hair gave it away.”

“No, idiot, it’s because they’ll _smell_ it,” Donnie explained, his usual annoyance with Casey rising.

“Oh. That another turtle thing?”

“Yes. I’ll have to take a shower too, since everyone would be able to smell my, um, former arousal. And they’ll smell me on you if you don’t bathe right away. Vice versa for me, with your scent.”

Casey snorted, grinning in amusement. “Guess I’m gonna be showering a lot more often.”

Donnie gave him an unimpressed look. “Don’t press your luck, Jones.”

“Dunno, been pretty lucky so far.”

Donnie groaned, and rolled his eyes. “I don’t know why I put up with you.”

“I think it’s ‘cause I give awesome head,” Casey chuckled, giving Donnie a suggestive look.

“Disgusting,” Donnie deadpanned, ignoring the wave of embarrassment he felt.

Casey just laughed, unbothered by Donnie’s response.

Donnie turned away, hiding his amused grin.

 

 

 

 

 

Casey walked Donnie back to the lair, and found himself hovering before they parted.

That had been. definitely an experience. A very positive one.

Though his mouth was starting to get a funky taste to it. Bleh.

“So, uh,” Casey rubbed the back of his neck, suddenly feeling awkward. “Just so you know, the shit those guys said earlier was stupid and didn’t mean nothin’. Don’t listen to ‘em about anything, they were just lookin’ to bother us.”

Donnie gave him a look, and shrugged. “I’ve already started erasing those comments from my memory. It’s not relevant.”

Casey nodded, scratching at his throat. Okay then. “Good. Don’t let ‘em get under your skin again. It’s just a bunch of bullshit anyways.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Donnie replied.

They both stood silently for a moment, neither looking each other in the eye.

“So-”

“Anyways-”

Casey cut off, same time as Donnie. Then, they both laughed.

“You go first,” Casey said.

“I was just going to say, um, thanks,” Donnie said, clasping his hands together and looking away. “It was- that was- it was good. I, um, enjoyed it.”

“Oh. Good,” Casey replied, adjusting his grip around his balled up hoodie.

“Your turn.”

“I was just gonna say g’night and stuff,” Casey shrugged, the tips of his ears suddenly getting hot. “And, I guess, see you tomorrow?”

“Yeah. I’ll see you then.”

Casey jerked a nod, and turned to leave. He needed to find something to wash the taste out of his mouth.

“Ah, Casey, hold on.”

“What?” Casey asked, turning back around, only to have Donnie suddenly appear in front of him, and press a forceful kiss onto his lips.

A quick as it’d happened, Donnie backed off again. The mutant smirked at Casey, giving a wink. “Just a quick reminder, I’ll be paying you back for tonight some time.”

Casey stared at Donnie for a moment, and then laughed as his cheeks burned. His insides twisted and jumped at the thought of being on the receiving end of things. “Um. Yes. Sure. Let’s do that. Definitely a thing I’d like.”

Donnie grinned, and then sauntered off, apparently finished doing whatever that had been.

For a guy who hadn’t even been able to stand a while ago, Donnie sure had swagger to his step.

Casey laughed to himself in the tunnel again, and covered his face with one hand.

Ha, what a night. Definitely not where he’d thought things would go, but damn if he wasn’t complaining.

“Ha ha haaaaaaahhhhhwhatthefuck,” Casey muttered, still flushing bright red.

The way Donnie had looked, undone and breathless, that wasn’t a scene he was ever going to forget.

Casey swallowed thickly, a tingle of arousal returning from earlier. He hadn’t asked Donnie for anything then, since tonight had been about making Donnie feel good, not Casey.

But. Yeah. Donnie hadn’t been the only one affected by the evening events. Like, at all.

Yeah okay. Time to go home and hop in the shower.

Casey hurried off, working on ignoring the insistent images crossing his thoughts.

It was only after he’d gotten home, that he realized he’d completely forgotten his vigilante gear at the lair.

The next evening, when Casey strolled back into the lair to get his bag off the couch, he couldn’t find it.

He didn’t bother questioning any of the present brothers, Raph and Mikey, on the whereabouts of his gear. Just a cautionary glance around, and he slipped into Donnie’s lab.

He found the genius mutant towards the back, completely focused on the ramshackle computer in front of him. Casey’s bag was right beside Donnie’s chair, looking exactly as he’d left it the evening prior.

Casey crept up behind Donnie, and slid the cup of Starbucks coffee he’d brought onto the table.

Without even turning, Donnie took the cup, and started drinking.

Casey grinned.

“Don’t.” Donnie said, still focusing on the computer.

“Don’t what?” Casey asked, still grinning.

“ _Don’t.”_ Donnie said again. “You’re being smug.”

Casey leaned on Donnie’s shoulders, digging his elbows in as he did. “Am I bein’ smug?”

“Yes. Yes you are.”

Casey kept grinning, and dug his elbows in a bit more.

When Donnie finally turned around to scold him, Casey was ready.

That stunt earned him a harshly bitten lip, but in his opinion, that was a good thing.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *even more softly* i can't believe i wrote the sex
> 
> lmao, that's not even the extent this is going to go. buck up me, and get ready to go places you've never gone before. *the author laughs nervously* oh god i can't believe how long it took me to do this... i'm so sorry everyone, i'm super bad about procrastination sometimes.
> 
> but obviously, i finally did the thing? ha ha.
> 
> sort of short, but isn't that how first times go? lengthy things don't happen until like... idk, a few times after? its not a thing i do, so i'm basing this off my partner's reactions to stuff, ha ha.
> 
> gimme a review folks, let this awkward author ace know how they did. ya'll got the sex, lemme know how i did with it!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *KICKS DOWN THE DOOR*
> 
> "THOUGHT YOU'D SEEN THE LAST OF ME? THINK AGAIN, BITCHES."

 

 

April wasn’t entirely sure _why_ her friends had decided to become the most annoying people in her life, but _apparently they had._

If she had to endure one more insult war, one more shoving contest, _one more bickering fight in the middle of an actual battle-_

April was probably going to take her two best friends and just put an end to them for the sake of her sanity.

She didn’t know _why_ their fighting had suddenly increased, or why they felt the incomprehensible need to continue that fighting almost the entire time their group was all together, but April was just really, really tired of it.

Every time they were in a room together, or even within sight range of each other, Donnie and Casey would just. _go_ at one another. April didn’t understand what had lit such a rage fit between them, but it was definitely there and it was getting on her last nerves.

Another thing she didn’t understand was why they still _hung around each other._

They had free will, why didn’t they just avoid one another like _normal people_ who hated each other?

Oh wait, because they _weren’t_ normal people. One was a walking talking disaster in progress and an all-around impossible feat of evolution, and the other was a mutant turtle. Of course they weren’t going to do what sane people would. _Of. Course._

April’s patience was very thin lately; mutated dad, lying to her aunt, trying not to fail school while fighting two different wars. It wore on a girl.

Donnie and Casey had originally been relief from those things. Now they just added even more stress.

Whatever was going on between them, every time they started fighting and then wandered off together, getting louder as they went, April was getting tired of it.

At least there were giving her space. In a sense. If being hyper focused on fighting each other all the time could be counted. She wasn’t… open to a relationship at the moment. For multiple reasons.

Too much happening with her human family, too much to process about being partially, if not mostly, inhuman, and just trying to stay afloat in school. She didn’t have time or headspace for a relationship with either boy, especially since she hadn’t figured out how she felt about them.

Or, about what her alternate self had alluded at.

April wasn’t thinking about those things. Nope. She was focusing on keeping an eye on her mutated dad, training to be a full kunoichi, and her calculous homework.

Definitely not that stuff. At all

 

 

 

“-pulling out the long words whenever you feel threatened-”

“-using excessive swears whenever _you_ feel threatened-”

“-real mature, trying to confuse everyone enough that they’ll shut up-”

“-oh _I’m_ real mature? Mister ‘I actually gave someone a black eye over the last corn chip’-”

“-that chip was _mine_ and Raph fucking _knew that-”_

“-see? Fine example of swearing when you feel threatened, and they _do_ say swearing is a sign of lower intelligence-”

“- _oh, you wanna fucking go, smart mouth-?”_

“ENOUGH!” April shouted, turning to glare at the two boys behind her. They were supposed to be doing a training exercise. For _teamwork._ “If I hear _one more_ word from _either of you_ , I’m- I’m going to-” April struggled to find an appropriate punishment they’d both react to. “-I’m going to cut both of you off from talking to me for the rest of the night!”

 _“What?! But_ he’s _the one who started it-”_

 _“April, please we weren’t- it was_ Casey _who-”_

“Not! Another! _Word!”_ April said, emphasizing her words with a zipping motion across her lips. “Is that _clear?”_

“Yes, April,” Donnie and Casey mumbled meekly. April huffed, and turned back around to continue their search and destroy mission. That was the training activity; they pair off into three’s and take turns hiding or searching. April was getting pretty good at the game, since her extra sensory hints would give her subtle pointers as to where her friends were hiding. She intended to find each one of them, and rub it in their green faces right after.

Except, a certain pair of idiots had been making too much noise for her to focus, and _speaking of-_

 _“That was_ your fault, _Jones,”_ Donnie was hissing at Casey. _“I told you to keep your voice down, but nooooo- you just_ had _to keep picking a fight with me-”_

 _“Oh_ I’m _the one pickin’ a fight?”_ Casey hissed back. _“Look who’s_ talking, _big hands mc’gee-”_

 _“Wow_ fuck you, _Jones. I’ll show up_ exactly _how hard these ‘big hands’ hit-”_

_“Fucking BRING IT-”_

“That is _IT!”_ April yelled, spinning back around to face them both. “You two are driving me _crazy!_ My god, neither of you can leave off of each other for _two seconds_. I am _done with this,_ and you two are here by banned from talking, texting, or hell, _smoke signalling me_ for the rest of the night! Good. _Bye.”_

Casey and Donnie exchanged horrified looks, and lunged forwards together with harried pleads, but April held up a hand and gave them both a stern glare.

“Nuh-uh, you’re both cut off,” She said. “No ifs ands or buts, you hear? And _don’t answer that.”_

April spun on her heel, and stormed off into the alleyway. She didn’t get more than ten feet before she heard yet _another_ fight break out, and she sighed loudly.

She elected to ignore them, and go training solo for a bit. At least until she tracked down her targets.

April skimmed the ground as she ran, deciding to give up slowly scanning the area and just follow her instincts. Her footsteps weren’t soundless quite yet, but she’d been working hard at her training so she was close. She searched the alleys and sewers steadily, following a vague intuition niggling in the back of her mind.

It paid off; as she neared a spot she took one look at, and _knew_ someone was there. Keeping her discovery hidden, April slowed her run to pretend that she was only taking a breather. Then, as she bent forwards to huff and puff loudly, she slipped one of the smoke bombs from inside her coat, and chucked it into the large alcove above a loading dock.

Furious cussing filled the evening air as smoke exploded into it, and Raph dropped out of his hiding place, coughing and swearing between breaths.

“ _Dirty trick,”_ He said hoarsely, rubbing his eyes and coughing again. “Oh god, I think I inhaled half of that.”

“That’s one point to me,” April said smugly, cocking her hip and slipping another bomb into her hands. “These little guys are probably my favorite invention of Donnie’s. So useful.”

“Speaking of him, and not speaking of someone else, where’s the idiot brigade?” Raph asked, finally wiping the last of the smoke screen from his eyes.

“I’m giving them a timeout together,” April drawled, letting her earlier annoyance drip into her words. “They wouldn’t shut up, so I put a restraining order on them both.”

“Ooh, harsh. Bet that’s going over well.”

April rolled her eyes at the faint streetlights above them, and sighed. “Probably going over terrible, but whatever, I’m not dealing with them tonight. I just want to find Leo and rub it in his smug little face that I’m just as good as you guys at search and destroy.”

Raph gave a conspiratorial grin. “Now _that_ I like the sound of. Much better than listening to those two fighting over you for the millionth time.”

April’s cheeks warmed slightly at that remark, reminding her of the constant rivalry her friends had over… her. It made her stomach twist unhappily, and she pushed the thought away before she could feel sick. “Yeah. I guess. Come on, I have a feeling Leo’s somewhere near the comic store on seventh. They’re dumping the outdated issues tonight.”

“You gonna use one of those on him too?” Raph asked as they started walking, nodding once at the smoke bomb April was rolling between her hands.

April smirked. “If I get the chance to, you bet.”

“You’re my kind of girl, April. Hit ‘im with two if you can.”

“You got it.”

They exchanged nasty grins, and kept on into the night. Hunting for fresh prey.

 

 

 

Casey’s back impacted against the wall behind him, and his equipment dug into his spine. He grinned as Donnie knocked his mask off his head, and his grin only got wider at Donnie’s furious glare.

“You. are the _worst.”_ Donnie ground out, hands gripping Casey’s shoulders tightly.

“I think you mean the _best,”_ Casey corrected, and he purposefully stamped on Donnie’s toes as the mutant growled at him.

“If you hadn’t kept _poking at me-”_ Donnie said, lips curled back. “-we could have spent the rest of the night with April. But now we’re _banned_ because of _you.”_

“Whatcha gonna do about it?” Casey challenged, pushing down harder on Donnie’s toes and eliciting another angry hiss from his friend.

Donnie’s foot kicked up against Casey’s, and Casey’s footing slipped out from under him. He grabbed at Donnie’s leather strap across his chest, hauling himself back up and knocking their foreheads together in a head-butt. It put flashes of pain in Casey’s vision, and Donnie growled again as he switched to holding Casey by his shirt collar.

Casey went in for a second head-butt, and was ready when the move turned into a biting kiss instead. The contact was aggressive, and Casey’s excitement rose higher. He could practically taste Donnie’s anger, and _ha,_ that’d been what he was hoping for.

He could just see April tomorrow, and he didn’t give a damn about the training activity. He just wanted to see if he could push Donnie into enough of a rage fit they could ditch their friends, and go make out. Like they were doing.

Casey had even elected to leave off his war paint tonight. He wasn’t letting this go until he’d had his quota of ‘violent make outs’ met.

“You fucking _asshole,”_ Donnie hissed, breaking their kiss for a moment. Casey lo- really liked it when he dropped the polite pretenses, and just swore to hell and back. Much more entertaining. “I only get to see her at _night;_ you get to see her whenever you want _all day._ That- that was dick move. _Fuck you.”_

Casey paused, the sparks of pleasure dropping off.

…oh.

Shit.

Donnie’s anger had receded, and now he just seemed… put out. Disappointed. _Augh,_ Casey hated it when Donnie got all mopey about stuff. _Especially_ when it was about himself or April.

Casey dropped his head, and sighed. “Well now I just feel like an asshole,” He muttered, letting the majority of his adrenaline and desire fade. “Sorry. I forgot.”

Donnie turned his head to the side, and looked at the ground. “…apology not accepted, but I. I guess I’ll get over it later. Dick.”

Casey’s mood soured further, because Donnie letting things go so easily just rankled him wrong. That wasn’t what he was here for, at all.

They’d only gotten maybe a few minutes of kissing in, and things had already gone south. And here Casey had been hoping for some repeat action from the last few times they’d gotten off alone together.

Wait. Bad wording. Or accurate wording? Fuck, Casey’s head- _mind_ was wandering. _Focus, damn it._

“…we could go check out those dumpsters you were on about earlier?” Casey offered, hoping to tempt Donnie out of his low mood. “You said you weren’t sure if you were going to be able to fit in between training and patrol. We could go now, since we kinda… aren’t allowed back in the group for a bit.”

And they could also kiss more. That would also be a good activity.

Donnie chewed his lip while he thought that over, Casey watching the action as he did, before he finally sighed and released Casey’s shirt. “You know what? Sure. Let’s go do something productive like scavenging.”

Then he sucker punched Casey in the stomach, and ignored Casey’s pained wheeze.

“But you’re still a dick,” Donnie drawled, prying Casey’s gloves off him and waltzing away.

Casey laughed hoarsely, clutching his midriff where the surprise blow had landed. _There we go,_ he thought, _back to normal._

“Takes one to know one,” Casey shot back, standing up again and flicking his skates down under his sneakers. He grabbed his mask off the ground, and hooked it onto his arsenal bag. Casey coasted after Donnie, skating past and smirking at the mutant. Donnie’s arm whipped out to try and unbalance Casey, but he was ready for the attack and deflected it with his own.

Donnie gave him a standard scowl, but Casey could see it didn’t quite reach his eyes. He returned the expression with a teasing grin, and winked at Donnie as the mutant rolled his eyes.

They wandered through the back alleys of their turf, bickering on and off as they headed for one of Donnie’s dumpster diving spots. Which was less of a nasty activity than Casey would have thought, and actually usually resulted in some neat upgrades for shit in their weapons arsenal. Mostly in the turtles’, since Casey had his own gear, and April was still mostly restrained to lower level shit.

Which was weird, and Casey knew it pissed April off a lot, and he while he wasn’t exactly adverse to seeing her fury in action, he didn’t like it as much when she had it like that. The nasty kind that tasted like backwash, rather than the kind she had when she was punching someone’s teeth out.

Casey chuckled to himself, remembering that last week a Purple Dragon had been trying to mug some poor guy and April and Casey had been passing by. Post training session, April was _always_ wound up, and oh it had been a sight to see her lay into the dude.

“What are you laughing about?” Donnie asked suspiciously, sliding a glance at Casey as they walked.

“How hot April looks when she breaks a guy’s nose,” Casey said shamelessly.

Donnie seemed to consider the thought for a moment, and then got the goofy smile he always had when April came up. “Yeah,” He said with a wistful tone. “She looks great when she does that.”

Embarrassingly, they sighed at the same time, and then shot annoyed glares at one another. There were still moments of jealousy about each other, getting to spend time with April in any form.

“I’m still not happy with you,” Donnie reminded pointedly. “Don’t forget that.”

“When are you _ever_ happy with me?” Casey replied.

Donnie hummed. “Maybe the last time you got on your knees?”

Casey choked on his next come back, and nearly got his skate caught in a drain grate.

“Oh you _dirty motherfucker,”_ Casey admonished, grinning even as his ears got hot. “And you tell _me_ off for saying that shit.”

“I say it when it’s an appropriate time; _you_ try to insinuate things right in front of my family.”

Casey jabbed a fist at Donnie, cuffing his shoulder. “Well sure I do, you’re way too easy to set off when I do that.”

Donnie’s returning swing at Casey landed hard against his chest, and it started another round of tussling between them. Casey minded the nails in his guard glove, because drawing blood like _that_ wasn’t cool, and he noticed that Donnie was definitely drawing out the fight. That made Casey grin wide and challenging, because whoops- it looked like Donnie might be down for some action after all.

Their curses and grunts echoed into the empty alley, and Donnie pushed them backwards into a corner of shadow. It turned Donnie’s form mostly black, and light only really reached the mutant’s right eye. It reflected wide and red in the small amount of streetlight, and Casey’s lower regions warmed at the intense, dark look Donnie had.

“You just like pushing my buttons so I’ll do _this,”_ Donnie said in a low voice, and _fuck-_ his teeth closed on the side of Casey’s neck, a slip of tongue licking the skin.

“What- what was your first clue?” Casey managed to get out, mind already filling up with the very, _very_ distracting sensations Donnie was giving him. “Jesus _fuck,_ Don.”

Donnie’s responding hum vibrated against Casey’s neck, and yeah okay that was definitely doing stuff to him, as Donnie’s hands drifted lower and lower. They edged a bit closer to the side of the alley, and the wall met Casey’s back with a soft impact. It jolted Donnie’s teeth on his neck, and Casey felt something tear there, and he let out a short gasp.

“I sometimes forget your skin is so much thinner than mine,” Donnie muttered, voice still low and husky. His tongue darted out against the spot he’d nicked. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine by me, dude,” Casey replied, because that spot might’ve been stinging a bit, but hey, he was _definitely_ not complaining. He was doing the opposite of complaining. Could Donnie maybe do that again but lower and also do the thing they’d tried last week? Because Casey would be really on board with that plan.

Last week’s adventure- courtesy of Casey keeping after Donnie even post a long patrol- rose up in Casey’s memories. There’d been teeth, and bruising, and Donnie had gotten on his knees in front of Casey, the two of them hidden in that garage of his, and sonofagun Casey still got tingly down below just thinking about it. For a first try, on Donnie’s part, it’d gone pretty fucking well.

Casey started to ask about that, _because oh fuck that’d be really, really great to experience again,_ but Donnie’s hands finally went low enough his thumbs were digging into Casey’s hips, and Casey shut down any suggestions he had because it looked like they were already heading that way regardless.

Casey was really glad he decided to ditch the crotch guard for tonight. Best choice he’d made in a while. An excellent choice. A brilliant one.

Casey tilted his head into Donnie’s shoulder, and ground against the mutant. The contact sent a shudder through him, and his breath sped up as Donnie returned the motion. Every drawn out suck on his neck went straight to Casey’s dick, and he tried to move in time with those ministrations from Donnie’s tongue.

Casey vowed to start wearing looser pants from now on, because things were definitely getting tight in the crotch area.

And Donnie’s teeth, and still gripping fingers, were _so_ not helping with that. Casey was never, ever making fun of Donnie’s hands again; the cool of their scales putting goosebumps on Casey’s skin as they slid under his shirt, and into his waist band. Donnie’s large, but nimble fingers undid the button to Casey’s jeans, and _hell yes._ Casey was _so on_ for this plan.

Donnie’s mouth finally released Casey’s neck, and Casey could already feel bruises forming there. There was a second of brief eye contact between them, during which Donnie’s hooded eyes drew Casey in and _did things to him,_ before Casey got tired of waiting and went for a kiss. He could taste a slight iron tang on Donnie’s lips, and yeah, that was his blood, and yeah, Casey was turned on by that. So turned on.

There was probably something to Donnie’s insults, calling Casey a masochist, but hey, he went for what he went for. Pain just usually meant something awesome was happening to him. Like make outs in an alleyway with a tall, strong mutant who wasn’t bothered by a bit of injury either.

Donnie’s hands held tight on Casey’s hips as they grinded together. Casey held on just as tight, arms around Donnie’s neck and doing his best to bite his- friend’s tongue. Donnie beat him to it, catching Casey’s tongue and lips both between his teeth, and Casey groaned into the sharp nip.

Then, Donnie’s hips slowly stopped grinding against Casey’s, and he broke off the kiss. Casey huffed shallowly, breath coming short and fast as he tried to get oxygen back into his brain. Donnie’s face hovered in front of his, and the mutant’s hooded eyes kept Casey pinned as much as his hands were.

Donnie moved his head to the side; brushing his lips on Casey’s ear and making him shiver as he softly whispered, _“Payback, Jones. Your move.”_

And abruptly, his weight and grip on Casey vanished. It took Casey a full beat to figure out what’d just happened.

Then fury rose up in him, and he realized he’d just been wound up for the sole purpose of _leaving him hanging._

“You fucking _asshole!”_ Casey yelled at the empty alley. Donnie was long gone, and Casey was left with an aching boner and lot of pissed off emotions, ones that mixed with his raging hormones in a way that just made them both worse _and Casey was actually going to kill Donnie._

He scrubbed at his face, harsh breaths hissing furiously out of his mouth. He then kicked the nearest dumpster a couple times, cussing Donnie out with ever kick, and finally zipped up his still too-tight jeans. Son of a fuck _,_ what a complete _dick move._

His phone in his pocket alerted him he had a text, and Casey pulled it out knowing _exactly_ who was texting him.

_‘I’m seven streets northwest, electrical store on your right. Five minutes before I move locations again. Catch me if you can, puckmouth.’_

Casey’s grip tightened around his phone, and he bared his teeth at it in a furious grin.

“You’re _on,”_ Casey said, not bothering to text back as he shoved his phone away again. He wasted no time, flicking his skates back under his feet and taking off after his dick of a make out partner. Casey was going to find Donnie and give him a little hell for that stunt. Maybe a black eye. And then maybe try to repeat said stunt, but without the end part.

He raced across the nearest street, heading for the most direct route of the next alley road. It’d take him right to the one Donnie was in, and he’d be able to corner the mutant and show him _exactly_ how Casey felt about this little game of his-

Two streets down, Casey saw something out of the corner of his eye, and he skidded to a halt.

He stared at the men currently passing duffle bags out a broken window.

The five men stared back at Casey, frozen in the middle of their theft of the pawnshop.

“HEY!” Casey shouted, pointing at them. “You fucks put that back _right now!”_

The men swore as Casey drew his hockey stick and charged at them, scrambling to get their stolen goods into their getaway car. Casey swooped in on the closest one, knocking him down with a dull _thwack_ right to his skull. He went down heavy, and Casey dodged around the guy’s buddy before his sloppy swings could land. Casey kicked the man’s gut with his skate, eliciting a pained wheeze, and bashed him over the head right after.

“Who wants some more?!” Casey snarled, because while he loved kicking ass, he was also using up precious time he couldn’t afford to waste. Shit shit shit- Donnie was probably going to move on soon, and no way would Casey be able to find him unless he gave another helpful text-

“ _Back off, psycho!”_ Someone screamed, and then a blast of sound rang out.

Casey jerked to the side, pain exploding across his senses. White, hot agony blinded him, and he lost his footing. Someone’s kick finished the job of toppling him, and Casey’s uncovered skull- because he hadn’t put back on his mask, too busy chasing after Donnie to remember- hit the concrete hard enough his vision blackened for a moment.

Casey clutched at his arm, throbbing pain getting worse by the second. His lips pulled back, and he let out a ragged cry.

He distantly heard car doors opening and slamming, but he was too busy trying to pull his head back together. He couldn’t focus around the burning, seeping wound in his arm, or the knowledge that he’d just gotten himself _shot._

Gangs in their usual area, closer to the Purple Dragons and the Foot, never carried firearms. Apparently, five guys who thought they’d try their hand at breaking and entering, had upped the ante that no one was willing to.

 _“Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuck_ -” Casey gasped, trying to sit up and _deeply regretting_ the action. His head swam, and he felt throbbing pain coming from the side of it. Warmth trickled into his hair, but he barely felt it. He was too busy trying to staunch the _blindingly painful bullet wound_ in his arm. His chanting curses broke off as he jostled the injury, and his mind went blank again.

He struggled out of the haze, and managed to get his phone out. Ditching his glove, Casey swiped the screen open with the arm that wasn’t bleeding. He was getting red all over it, blood probably wrecking it’s circuits already, but he focused on just getting to the contacts section.

Casey’s lungs were heaving, but he didn’t feel like he was getting any oxygen. His fingers were shaky and uncooperative as he hit the dial button, and brought the phone to his ear. He focused on inhaling and exhaling- ignoring each pulse of agony coming from his arm- and waited for an answer.

The link clicked, and before Donnie could ask why he was calling, Casey said, “Hey, so I kind of got shot. Think you can come get me?”

 

 

 

Donnie had been moving through the dumpster’s contents, sorting the useless pieces of tech from the good ones, and he’d started to wonder where Casey was.

He’d figured he’d riled the human up enough that Casey would come storming into the back alley for another fight. At least that. But time dragged on, and Donnie’s internal clock said the human was now well past their allotted time limit.

For a moment, Donnie’s insecurity gave a twinge, and told him that Casey had ditched him. That Donnie had gone too far with their passive aggressive game of push and pull, and driven the human off.

Then he brushed off the feeling, and told himself Casey would at least come and punch him for the trick he’d pulled. They did stuff like this all the time these days; poke and annoy and drive one another up the wall. It was just how they worked.

Donnie reminded himself there was no ‘they’ to speak of. At all.

He went back to sorting technology, and avoiding cutting himself on anything.

Then his phone rang, and he- not rushed, just. quickly picked it up. Donnie had barely opened the line, opening his mouth to ask in a snarky tone if Casey had gotten lost even with his directions, when Casey’s wavering voice stopped him.

“- _kind of got shot. Think you can come get me?”_

Donnie’s heart stopped beating.

In a split second, he evaluated the situation.

Casey could be lying. Playing a joke.

He didn’t sound like he was joking.

Casey was likely somewhere between where Donnie was and where he’d left him.

Donnie could be there in under two minutes if he forwent stealth.

“I’ll be right there,” Donnie said, dropping whatever he’d been holding in his hands before. His mind slid into ninja mode, and he added a layer of doctor mode to that. “Stay on the line. Are you staunching the bleeding?”

_“ ‘s kinda hard when I’m holdin’ the phone.”_

“Then _drop it,”_ Donnie hissed. He climbed the side of the nearest building with one hand, not stopping even as his wrist protested. “Put it on speaker phone and listen to me very carefully. Where did the bullet enter?”

 _“Arm,”_ Casey grunted after a moment, and hearing a clattering sound, Donnie knew he’d put the phone down. _“Hurts like a bitch.”_

“Apply direct pressure and _do not let go,”_ Donnie instructed, crossing the roof with steps that barely touched it. He leapt without hesitance, leaping over an alley, and continued across the next roof. “I’ll be there in just a moment, hold still and don’t agitate the wound. I’ll need to see it to know how bad the damage is.”

_“…hurry, if you could.”_

The note of pain, and the quietness of his tone, made Donnie run faster.

Stupid game, stupid rivalry, stupid fighting, stupid _Donnie-_

He shouldn’t have left Casey. He could have prevented this.

Casey’s breathing was harsh and loud over the line, static rushing through the speaker every time he exhaled. Donnie’s eyes rapidly searched each road he crossed over, and the steady in and out of Casey’s airways was all that kept him from imagining the worst case scenario.

Donnie spotted an irregular shape below him as he jumped, and switched his path immediately.

Donnie rebounded off the walls, stashing his phone as he did to use both hands, and he hit the ground running. Casey looked up as he did, and gave a weak grin as Donnie approached.

“I think that’s a new record,” Casey laughed, and Donnie could see that the pain was putting his admittedly high threshold to the test.

“Shut up,” Donnie replied on automatic, focused entirely on looking at Casey’s arm. “You reckless, foolhardy, imbecilic _idiot.”_

“I think the last two mean the same thing,” Casey said as Donnie started pulling out his field kit.

Donnie struggled to maintain his forced calm, and he shot Casey a glare. “For god’s sake, Casey, you have a hole in your arm, _this is not the time.”_

Casey chuckled, and then jerked as Donnie pulled his hand off the wound. Donnie ignored Casey’s pained gasp, and focused on getting the gauze in place. He wrapped the bandage fast as he could; tight enough it would hold back excessive blood flow. He’d found an exit wound on the opposite side, and knew that the shallow gunshot injury likely would only require stiches and disinfectants.

He’d need more light to be surer, but for now he settled for stopping the bleeding and getting Casey back to the lair.

“We should be good, for now. You definitely need stitches though, and I want to take a closer look before we do anything else,” Donnie informed Casey, his words clipped as he maneuvered and arm under Casey’s armpit. “On your feet, we have to get ahead of any infection that could have gotten in.”

“Sure thing, doctor Don,” Casey mumbled, getting to his feet sluggishly. _Adrenaline crash,_ Donnie observed distantly, _as well as shock settling in._ “To the hospital, right?”

Donnie’s thoughts jerked to a stop, and he realized that yes; Casey _did_ need to go to the hospital. Not some subterranean lair in the sewers of New York. He’d been creating a plan based on the only gunshot scenario he’d ever had to plan for; one of his brothers being injured. A mutant turtle, not a human.

Casey needed to go where humans went when they got hurt, not into Donnie’s lab infirmary for comparably substandard care.

Donnie admonished himself for forgetting such an obvious thing, even as his instincts demanded he was to take Casey out of sight and below ground. A selfish desire to be the one patching Casey up, and not some nameless doctor Donnie knew nothing about.

But that wasn’t something he could do. Donnie knew that.

“You should take off your gear before you waltz into the ER,” Donnie said, brushing away his other thoughts. “Vigilantism is still illegal, you know. You’ll be waving a bright red flag for everyone to see if you walk in like this.”

“Yeeeaah… that might be a good idea,” Casey agreed, and he hunched further on himself; holding his injured arm close. “How far?”

“Approximately thirty blocks to the Shellraiser, and I can drive you from there. I’ll call everyone once we’re in it. Just hold on until then.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

Casey’s reply was tight, and Donnie grimaced as he led his- friend forwards; keeping them in the deepest shadows he could. They walked in relative silence, excluding Casey’s complaints about pain and things going too slow. Donnie responded each time with familiar insults and snipes, but neither of them was really into the argument. It was just something to fill the air.

The Shellraiser was still where Donnie had parked it, when their group had split up for the exercises. Donnie pulled the bay doors open, and hurried Casey inside. While Donnie brought the behemoth machine to life, Casey sat heavily in the passenger’s seat.

Donnie backed them out of the dead end alley he’d hidden the vehicle in, and turned onto the road. Headed straight for the nearest emergency clinic he knew of.

He called Raph soon as they were on the way, and Donnie tried to keep his eyes on the road and not on Casey. He largely failed, even more so at keeping his stomach from twisting with anxiety.

It was just an arm injury; not even a bad one. Casey would be fine. He just needed stiches, and he’d be up and causing trouble again in no time.

Donnie repeated that to himself as he drove, and steeled his focus on arriving at their destination without hitting any wayward pedestrians.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh god these stupid boys, they will be the death of me. april doesn't even know what to do with them anymore. (caliginous affairs tend to be violent and loud and all-consuming for the 'honeymoon period', in which the two partners have no eyes for anyone but each other; but she doesn't know that, now does she?)
> 
> hi. i'm here. i'm still alive (somehow) and i'm really sorry about the long-ass hiatus i not on purpose took. i hit a writer's block and couldn't get past it for hell or death.  
> but then Someone On Here nominated me for a fanfic competition, and i went "well SHIT, now i HAVE to update."
> 
> so here. have some stupid not-boyfriends being ridiculous and leaving you on a cliffhanger. i don't even care anymore. i'm going to escalate shit as i please. i have plot arcs i want to get to and dammnit I WILL GET TO THOSE PLOT ARCS EVEN IF IT KILLS ME.
> 
> so thank you to whoever nominated for the erotica section of the fanfic competition, i am deeply flattered/confused and will update this stupid, stupid fic just for you.
> 
> i will try to be back soon, but if you'll excuse me, i have Another fanfic to go work on an update for, bc shit i have a lot that need them.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> more ~not-boyfriends~ for you all, being complete fucking dorks and totes oblivious. also a side of april, who is both of those things as well.
> 
> ah, slow burn. how i love you.

 

 

When Raph had gone to answer his t-phone, while April was still crowing her success at finding Leo’s hiding spot and nailing him with smoke bombs, April hadn’t thought much of it.

Then Raph’s voice had turned from grumpy to concerned, and he’d shouted _“He WHAT?!”_ in a way that brought the good moral of the group to a halt.

It’d taken only a few brief seconds for Raph to actually say the words _“Casey’s been shot”_ , but nearly a full minute for April to process them. Raph had hurriedly followed up that Casey wasn’t in any serious danger, that it’d been a clean shot to the arm and Donnie was already driving him to the ER, but that didn’t stop April’s stomach from dropping out and her mind shrieking _not another one, I can’t lose another person._

She’d shoved that thought aside though, and refocused on the situation at hand.

It only took a few seconds a panicking from them all, and then they were headed for Donnie and Casey’s destination. The brothers might not be able to accompany Casey into the hospital, but April _could,_ and she’d be damned if she didn’t.

Also, April was going to smack Casey upside the head as soon as she knew he wasn’t dying. _Idiot._

She left the two of them alone for maybe a half hour, and look what happened. Casey got himself shot doing god knows what, and now they had to fabricate some sort of believable story as to _why_ he was in the ER.

April had school in the morning, dammnit. She’d wanted to finish the training exercise and then go home and take a long shower.

It looked like she’d be spending the night with her friend in a hospital, instead. Because of course she was.

It was a testament to what sort of life April had been living lately, that she wasn’t even all that surprised.

April didn’t see the Shellraiser anywhere, once she and the other three brothers had arrived at the hospital. Mikey had rejoined the group halfway, and was now jittering around as anxiously as April felt. There was a meaningful nod from Leo, who’d recovered from his earlier sputtering offense about being smoke bombed, and the three boys faded into the shadows. Then it was just April, standing in an alley alone right across from the ER clinic.

April brushed her bangs out of her face, and ran across the street.

It was relatively late in the evening, so the lobby of the ER was quiet. People sitting in chairs and on benches, coughing occasionally or holding injured limbs close. April’s eyes jumped from person to person, and she couldn’t find any sign of her stupid, stupid friend.

She gave up searching the waiting room, and went straight to the desk. The woman there looked up from her computer as April approached, and as politely as she could manage, April asked, “Hi, I’m looking for someone who was admitted here? Casey Jones, black hair, tall, gunshot wound?”

The clerk raised one eyebrow, and nodded. “Yes, someone of that description was admitted just a little while ago. Are you family, or…?”

“Um,” April blanked for a moment. “Uh. Close friend?” The word _friend_ came out with a slight squeak, and April cursed her nerves. “Very close friend.”

“Ah, girlfriend,” The clerk said with a softer tone, even though April hadn’t said that _at all_ , but whatever. The clerk seemed to think that was enough to let her into the back rooms, so April would take it and not mention it to Casey. The clerk gave her a reassuring smile, and gestured to the doors next to the desk. “He’s back that way. Fourth room on your right.”

“Thank you,” April said, relief rushing through her. She barely kept herself from running through the doors, pushing through them with more force than needed.

April avoided a cart being pushed through the hallway inside, stepping around the nurses bustling by. April walked as fast as she thought she could get away with, and passed by curtained off gurneys. Only two of them were occupied, and April averted her eyes from the people in each one.

Until she got to the fourth one on her right, and she caught sight of someone who was in _so much trouble._

“April!” Casey exclaimed, looking not nearly concerned enough about where they were. “What’re you doing here?”

He was sitting on a gurney, missing his hoodie and shirt, and with a bandage wrapped around his arm. There was an IV tube hooked into his uninjured arm, and the sight of it nearly made April stutter. Casey’s complex was pale, and he was _definitely_ swaying where he sat, but… he was breathing, and looking at her with clear eyes, and close enough to ‘okay’ that it let her anxiety unknot in her chest.

April shoved the curtain aside and stormed up to Casey, and threw her arms around his neck in a furious hug.

“You _idiot!”_ April hissed, tightening her hold. “You fucking _idiot!_ I leave you alone and you get yourself _shot. Who does that?!”_

“Uh,” Casey said.

“ _YOU! THAT’S WHO!”_ April whisper-yelled, barely containing her anger.

“Sorry? There were these guys, and I couldn’t just let ‘em get away…” Casey’s arms moved up and around April’s back, and she could feel his injured one shaking slightly. “Sorry, though. Really. Donnie was pretty pissed at me too. Didn’t mean to get shot, but… eh, what happens, happens.”

April sighed, and thumped her head against Casey’s shoulder “You are the only person I know who could get shot and say it’s no big deal,” April muttered, shutting her eyes and giving Casey another squeeze.

“It kind of helps that I’m on, like, the _strongest_ fuckin’ painkillers right now. Seriously. I can’t feel my tongue.”

April blew a harsh sigh out of her mouth, because her friend was a complete moron, and yet somehow still charming. Sometimes. Not often, but sometimes. She opened her eyes, ready to draw away and better assess how badly off Casey was, when she noticed an odd blemish on his neck.

“Is that a _hickey?”_ April asked, eyes going wide. Because _what._

Casey’s flail was an admirable one, his uninjured arm jerking and knocking into April as he tried to slap a hand over the blemish. “Uh. No?” Casey said in way too suspicious voice. “That’s an injury. Totally an injury.”

“Really.” April said flatly.

“Yeah. I got hit there, aaaaaand ta da, a bruise,” Casey gestured at the small scab in the center of the bruise. “See, look. A cut and everything. It’s an _injury_ , not a hickey. Like, everyone gets these, right? Hit yourself on the door, shit falls out of your locker, hockey practice-”

“I thought hockey was out of season,” April said, crossing her arms. “Also, how high are you right now?”

Casey gave a lopsided grin. “I am very high. So high. Morphine is the greatest gift to mankind besides hockey night.” A pause, and then he added, “But seriously. Not a hickey. I probably got hit there in the fight, and then this happened. But not a hickey, I swear.”

 April eyed Casey suspiciously a little longer, and then let the matter go. Casey just looked like too much of a mess at the moment to feel anything other than sympathy for his stupid, charming face.

And it wasn’t like April had any _say_ in Casey getting hickeys or not. No matter what people assumed about them, she wasn’t his girlfriend or anything. They were just close friends with a mutual secret in their lives. Nothing more.

April reached up, and patted Casey cheek gently. “Okay, I believe you. Now get back on the bed, mister. You’re still injured.”

Casey blinked at her touch, definitely showing just how high he was with the lethargy of his reactions. “Uh, sure,” He said, giving another goofy smile. “You stickin’ around or something?”

April shooed him back into sitting down on the cot, making sure he was going to stay there before she replied. “Yep. Because I don’t trust you to take care of yourself until your family gets here. And you did call them, right?”

“I did,” Casey nodded, still grinning up at her. April was slightly taller than him like this, which was a drastic change from the usual. “My dad yelled at me for, like, a solid ten minutes or something. He’ll probably be here in just a while, and he’s _so_ pissed I’m in the hospital. Again.”

“Again, Jones?” April asked, sitting down next to Casey. Her knee brushed his, and she resisted the urge to reach out and squeeze his uninjured hand.

Casey gave a sly smile. “Do you know how many times I’ve been in and out of here?”

April rolled her eyes. “I’m betting too many.”

“Heck yeah, and I’ve got the scars to prove it. Like this one time, I got cornered by, like, six other kids in my neighborhood, and man were they _pissed_ with me. Sprained my wrist but good fendin’ them off…”

April listened to Casey ramble, helped by the IV feeding drugs into his system. It was good to hear his voice, see him still powering forwards even with a bullet wound in his arm. Even when the nurses came back, checking in on Casey and the temporary bandage in place until stitches were put in, April didn’t move far away from Casey. The atmosphere was too comfortable to do that, even with Casey’s injury and their surroundings.

Now if the next time they spent time together _didn’t_ involve him and Donnie picking fights or Casey being hospitalized, April might actually consider doing one on one stuff more often.

 

 

 

Donnie hovered on the edge of the rooftop, wavering on his decision.

He’d done this three times already, come here and then left and then come back again and again. He just couldn’t make up his mind.

He shouldn’t even be out; he should’ve been home and working in his lab, or training, or just about anything other than standing on a roof and being unable to make a choice.

Donnie turned away from the ledge, frustrated and turning the frustration into pacing. This was a waste of time; they’d gotten a text from Casey hours and hours ago, and April too, that the gunshot wound was nothing to worry about. A few hours in the ER, and Casey had been sent home after thorough questioning by police and stern lecturing from his father.

Donnie didn’t need to go in and personally check. Really. It was pointless; the doctors surely wouldn’t have done anything less than an expert job. And while Donnie had dealt with countless small and large injuries requiring stitches, he wasn’t exactly a textbook expert. His assessment of Casey’s injury wouldn’t be necessary, and he should really just go back to the lair and attend to whatever needed doing there.

With that thought in mind, Donnie started walking the opposite direction of Casey’s apartment fire escape.

…only to turn around and march right back towards it. Because he was an idiot that needed to see Casey with his own two eyes. Just to make sure the human hadn’t injured himself even worse in the twenty-four plus hours since they’d parted.

Definitely just because of that.

Donnie slipped soundlessly down the rungs of the stairway, making his way down to the level that Casey’s home was in. It was late enough that there weren’t many lights on in the apartments he passed, and a reminder niggled in Donnie’s brain that humans were diurnal. There was a good chance Casey would be asleep; healing up by taking some extra time to rest.

Of course, because Casey was a self-destructive moron, the light of his bedroom was still on; shining through the thin curtains across it, with the window open just enough to let music float out into the evening air.

Donnie paused again, angling himself to remain in the shadows and rethinking for the tenth time what his plan of action should be.

What was he even planning to do here? Muscle in and demand he be allowed to fuss with a delicate and still healing wound he didn’t patch up and in fact assisted in Casey receiving? By extenuating circumstances, sure, but _still._

Yeah that would go over well, not to mention move Donnie into checkmate in whatever passive aggressive emotional chess game he and Casey were still playing, by expressing _concern_ of all things-

The window’s curtains were flung open, and Donnie suppressed a jolt as Casey appeared with a bat and a scowl.

Then Casey’s scowl turned into surprise, and he lowered the bat. “Donnie?” Casey asked, blinking in a way that was clearly confused. “The heck are you doing here? You gave me a _heart attack,_ dude. I thought you were a burglar or something.”

Donnie’s mind went oddly blank for a moment, before he managed to force an answer out. “I’m, um, just here to check on your wound?” He winced at how his sentence ended in a question, instead as a statement. “…can I come in?”

Casey’s expression did a funny twist for a moment, like it couldn’t decide on what emotion to portray, and then he nodded his head. “Uh, sure? Just lemme- budge this stupid thing _open-”_

Casey started to push the window upwards, and in doing so clearly strained himself moving his arm. The one still bandaged and visibly causing him pain.

“Casey!” Donnie admonished, snapping out a hand to grab the windowsill. He pushed Casey’s hands off the frame, shoving the human away from the window. “You have a _bullet wound._ Let me.”

“Jeez, fine, do it yourself,” Casey said, backing away so Donnie could push the slightly sticky frame into place. It went up with little effort exerted on Donnie’s part, since he was both uninjured and inhuman. One sticky frame was nothing.

Donnie slid into Casey’s room, minding his shell edges and bo staff on the sill as he did. No need to cause gouges in the paint. His feet hit a soft carpet, worn down by years and years of trampling use courtesy of a hyper active nutjob.

Donnie had only known in theory where Casey’s room/home was- because he’d _thoroughly_ investigated the other teen before conceding to Casey and April’s rela- _friendship-_ but this was the first time he’d ever entered it.

He wasn’t sure what he was expecting, but it probably should have been this.

Clothing and papers were everywhere, evidence that Casey didn’t know what organization or laundry was. Dotting the walls were assorted posters of music bands or hockey stars; the music playing at a low level likely belonging to one of the screaming demonic images. Casey’s desk was covered in textbooks and sketchbooks, some splayed open on top of the piles; rows of text and scribbled doodles and notes in each one.

There was hockey equipment scattered in every available corner, mixed with other various sports gear. Like the bat in Casey’s hand, which had twins in the exposed closet. The door of said closet was open, spilling unfolded and unhung clothing everywhere along with the sports equipment.

Donnie sniffed, and found everything either smelled like dust or post-workout Casey.

Ew.

“This place looks like a dust mite breeding ground,” Donnie said, stepping over a pile of black jeans. “That arm of yours will be infected to septic levels by now.”

“Fuck off, I didn’t know I was getting company,” Casey replied snappishly, kicking the pile Donnie had been avoiding. It flew onto another pile, and just created a larger mound of probably unwashed clothing. “And for your information, I’m keeping this shit clean as I can. I can’t screw myself over for next season because I let my arm get infected.”

Ah, right. Hockey. Casey wasn’t always a vigilante brawler; he still had school and a normal life. Like being a member of his school’s hockey team. Donnie supposed that when the sport came back into season, Casey would have to cut back on spending time moonlighting with them all. Including Donnie.

Donnie shuffled further into the room, pushing away that, for some reason, mood dampening thought. Down to business, then. Since he really shouldn’t linger. “Can I see your arm? I’d like to take a look at the stitches,” Donnie turned back towards Casey, who’d been watching him move through the room. Probably interested in the stark contrast of Donnie being in such a normal setting. “Knowing you, you’ve probably strained them already, if not popped them.”

Casey scoffed, sidling over to his bed to sit down on it. The bed was rumpled and unmade, matching the rest of the room, and Casey leaned his bat on the side table as he sat. “I’ve been in the ER for stitches, like, seven times now. I know how to take care of them, Don.”

Donnie hesitated for a moment, before going to go sit down next to Casey. He pulled his staff off his shell and put it next to Casey bat, and took a seat beside his friend. With enough space between them to maneuver, of course. “Sure you do, Jones,” Donnie said, sliding his thoughts into doctor mode as he did. “Because repetition will ingrain skills into anyone if they do something enough. Even you.”

“Hey, be nice to me, I’m injured,” Casey said in a fake wounded tone. “I’m _delicate.”_

“You’re about as delicate as Raph is,” Donnie muttered, focusing on examining the bandages. Not a bad job, though Casey had definitely mussed them a bit with whatever he’d gotten up to all day.

Donnie’s statement of just how delicate Casey was wasn’t exactly true. The evidence spoke for itself. While Donnie would never under any circumstances think of Casey as _delicate_ per say, he could certainly admit that the human was just… not as hardy as Donnie or his siblings. While Casey had determination and sheer bullheadedness, plus his hockey training, to boost him up from an ordinary human’s level… he still just wasn’t as strong or durable.

The bullet wound was a bit of a wakeup call about that, as well as a reminder that April was in a similar boat. She was making leaps and strides with her training, but she was still just a beginner in comparison to the rest of Donnie’s family. The humanity of his friends was an uncomfortable thought sometimes; for both Donnie’s personal struggles with dysphoria and his anxiety about one day the two of them just… not being there anymore.

Donnie was wandering in his own head again, he needed to focus and not let sleep deprivation skew his priorities. Feeling sorry for himself could come later.

He finished, gently, turning Casey’s injured arm back and forth for inspection, and let it drop again. “Are you on painkillers?” Donnie asked, shifting his thoughts back to the wound.

“Yeah, a little bit,” Casey said with a shrug. “Just a couple pills here and there so I could actually move around without cussing.”

Donnie hummed doubtfully. Knowing Casey, he’d probably only taken the bare minimum in some effort to be manly. Honestly, no sense in him at all.

Next step, then.

“Can I take a proper look?” Donnie asked, fingers pausing on the edge of the tape. While it wasn’t exactly _advisable_ to expose the wound to the environment they were currently in, he just… had to know. Had to see with his own eyes that it wasn’t festering or still unstitched. He hadn’t been able to sleep hardly at all, stuck thinking about the red hole in Casey’s arm. “I just… need to check how good a job they did.”

Donnie was lying through his teeth, badly, but Casey didn’t seem fussed about it. He just shrugged again, and shifted a little closer to Donnie. “Go ahead if you want,” Casey said, oddly non-defensive about the idea. “Just make sure you wrap it up good afterwards.”

“Uh, sure,” Donnie mumbled, undoing the bandage with care he wouldn’t usually apply to Casey. He noted then, that he’d been doing as such from the moment he’d entered the window. Minding Casey’s health and acting downright _concerned_.

He hoped Casey hadn’t noticed, as obvious as it likely was.

Casey was being weirdly quiet, tapping his free hand to the beat of the relatively mellow music he was playing. He didn’t move around at all as Donnie took off the white gauze, and still didn’t comment as Donnie started examining it.

It felt strangely intimate, and Donnie wasn’t sure what to make of that.

The stitches were black, stark against Casey’s skin. They were still red, agitated and fresh. But they also didn’t look infected, and the doctor who’d stitched Casey up had done a perfect job of things.

Something unhappy and stressed unknotted in Donnie’s chest, and he felt calmer just for seeing the evidence of care. Casey would be fine, that much Donnie knew for sure now.

“Hey, Donnie?”

Donnie glanced up from his careful rewrapping of the wound.

“You alright?” Casey asked, eyes examining Donnie. “You seem kinda off tonight.”

Donnie blinked his sore eyes, and shook his head. “I’m fine, just a little tired I guess.” He finished reapplying the bandage, adding new tape to it from his own field kit supplies. “You should be good to take them out in just a few weeks, as long as you don’t strain the injury too much. Rest and a protein rich diet is my prescription for you, so see to it you follow it. Doctor’s orders.”

“Uh, sure thing. My dad just bought a ton of frozen hamburgers, so I think I’m covered,” Casey said in a slightly absent tone, watching Donnie as he finished with Casey’s injury. “Hey, Dee, hold still a sec.”

“What?” Donnie asked, and the fact that he didn’t notice Casey’s hand until it was near his face was a testament to how little sleep he was running on. Without pausing to answer Donnie, Casey’s fingers pushed Donnie’s mask upwards.

“Ho,” Casey said, eyebrows moving up his forehead. “Those are some serious bags, Donnie. A week’s worth of groceries at least.”

Donnie’s scales itched a bit as Casey’s light fingers traced the underside of his left eye. Admittedly, he hadn’t really slept the last twenty-four hours, but why would Casey care about that? “I didn’t get much sleep today,” Donnie said vaguely. “I had some… projects to keep up with.”

“Dude, bloodshot too,” Casey said, tapping the scales closest to Donnie’s eye. Donnie closed his eye on reflex and smacked Casey hand away. Casey frowned at Donnie for that. “I know red eyes are kinda a thing for you, but this isn’t really the same thing. When did you last sleep anyways?”

“Six hours ago,” Donnie said with a sniff, omitting the fact that it’d only been for about thirty minutes. He readjusted his mask, and covered up his evidence of insomnia again. “I’ll get some in a little while, since it’s a rest night from training.”

“Huh, that why you had time to come by?”

“…sure.” Never mind that Donnie had purposefully taped a _‘do not disturb’_ sign on the lab before leaving, and added a _‘danger: explosive materials in use’_ just to be sure his siblings and father would be kept out and unaware of his absence.

That would probably work, long enough at least for Donnie to drop by and examine Casey and leave.

Except now they were sitting together and not looking at each other and Donnie wasn’t exactly hurrying to depart.

Uh.

“I should really-”

“Maybe you could-”

They both broke off, awkward throat clearing from one another.

“I was, uh, just trying to say I should really go now,” Donnie said, trying and failing to not feel embarrassed.

“Oh,” Casey said, grimacing momentarily. “Do you have to?”

Donnie nodded jerkily, because it was late even for him, and he really did feel like collapsing now that he had confirmation of Casey’s health. “Yeah, um. I’ll just see myself out,” Donnie said, standing up. Only for his legs to become uncooperative, and his head to swirl a bit.

So maybe he’d taxed out his meter for sleep deprivation. He knew he should’ve grabbed that extra energy drink.

Casey put out an arm, and steadied Donnie’s wobbling stance. “Donnie, for real,” Casey said, pulling Donnie back down to sit. “Maybe you could… sit down a while? Hang out or something.”

Donnie shook his head, which only made it hurt worse. “I… the sun’ll be up in a few hours. I need to sleep. _You_ need to sleep. God, why are you even up right now?”

“I slept, like, all day,” Casey said. He didn’t remove his hand on Donnie’s arm, and in fact shifted closer on the bed. “Pain killers and grounding will do that to a guy.”

“Well, lovely for you,” Donnie mumbled, really starting to feel his need for rest. “I didn’t. Which is why I should-”

“You could stay here?” Casey blurted suddenly, and Donnie stared at him. Casey’s ears looked oddly red as he spoke. “I mean, you’re tired, I’m kinda, uh, lonely from bein’ grounded all day and on bed rest, so we could talk and shit and maybe you could stick around? Sleep here today?”

Donnie kept staring at Casey. Casey’s ears got redder.

“Are you inviting me, a highly visible mutant, to have a sleepover?” Donnie asked.

“Uh.”

“Casey…”

“My dad an’ sis wouldn’t come in, promise,” Casey said hurriedly. “He’s got a job that keeps him out all day, and my sister has after school programs. And they know not to go into my room without permission, so. Yeah. We’d be good.”

“…are you sure?” Donnie asked, becoming aware of how close they were sitting. While he should actually just go home, Donnie… also wanted to stick around. Just to keep an eye on Casey, in case he hurt himself worse.

Not at all that Donnie was actually deeply anxious over what had happened the night prior, or that he felt so much better just for being in the same room as his friend. Nope. Not that at all…

“I’m pretty sure,” Casey said quietly, leaning closer. They hovered apart for a moment longer, and then Donnie closed the distance.

They met at the halfway point, kissing with gentleness their past ones had lacked. It was a slow kiss, not in the exploratory sense, but a careful sense. Reassuring to them both.

Donnie was tired, and half out of reality from sleep deprivation, so he barely noticed Casey slowly pushing him backwards. It wasn’t until Donnie’s shell met the mattress, that he noticed Casey had forced him to lie down. At a weird angle, with his legs off the bed and Casey somewhat laying on him.

Casey kept up with the kissing though, and Donnie was far too addled by exhaustion to really fight it. The two of them somehow maneuvered properly onto the bed, which was a fumbling sort of shuffle since neither of them was willing to break the kiss. It resulted in Casey lying on top of Donnie, propped up only slightly by his uninjured arm, and his long legs stretched between Donnie’s.

They finally stopped making out after a long, drawn out period of time, and Casey lifted himself off Donnie enough to look down at him. Donnie’s hand moved up without much thought, and he brushed the loose bangs hanging over Casey’s face.

“You look different without your bandana,” Donnie said, pushing the hair behind Casey’s ear. Casey turned his head into the touch, and Donnie couldn’t tell if the movement was conscious or not.

“It a good look?” Casey asked, giving a cocky smile that didn’t suit a shootee at all.

Honestly, this boy. He was going to give Donnie a permanent migraine one of these days. “You look like an old mop that someone used to clean up black paint.”

Casey laughed, and Donnie could feel the vibrations in his plastron, the way they were pressed together. “Well _you_ look like a college student during finals week,” Casey said, shoving his arm up past Donnie’s to pull Donnie’s mask off again. “One that’s failing his courses, and knows it.”

“Shut up,” Donnie muttered, letting Casey pull his mask off completely. “A failing student is still better than a dirty inanimate object.”

Casey chuckled, and tossed Donnie’s mask onto the floor without care. Donnie scowled at him, which only earned another grin from Casey. As Casey lowered himself back down, going in for another kiss, Donnie made sure to nip the human’s lip as he did.

Casey groaned into the bite, and retaliated by moving his hips just so. It elicited a growl out of Donnie, and he wound his arms around Casey’s lean torso to pull him closer. They’d never tried something quite like this before, but the heat Donnie was already starting to feel in his stomach was welcome. So was the radiating, mammalian heat off Casey’s skin, barely concealed by the thin t-shirt and pajama pants he wore.

Donnie was only mutant. He tended to move towards _anything_ that made that much heat, even if it was a particularly frustrating boy who liked to push his buttons and get injured in the stupidest ways.

Speaking of, Donnie felt Casey’s full body wince as he jarred his arm wrong, which brought their accidental make out session to an abrupt halt.

Donnie realized that they’d been heading straight for a territory neither of them was in any shape to enter right then, and elected to grab the sides of Casey’s face and push him off. “We are _not_ going to engage in ill-advised, very horny activities right now,” Donnie said, squishing Casey’s still too-pale cheeks. Further loss of blood to his brain would not help Casey’s situation at all right now; there would be no shenanigans tonight. Donnie was putting his foot down. “On the account that I am actually very close to passing out at any given time, and you have an actual _bullet wound_ in your arm.” Donnie paused, and then added, “And your family is literally right down the hall, what are they going to say if they follow a bunch of- of _sex noises_ , and they find you like this?”

“Uh,” Casey said, looking ridiculous with his squished cheeks. “Lucky Casey?”

Donnie gave him a flat look. “Do _not_ quote mangled Eldorado phrases at me right now.”

“I dunno man, I feel pretty lucky righ’ now. Painkillers, kisses… sounds good to me.”

Donnie nearly groaned, and not for the reason Casey probably wanted him to. This boy, _this boy._ What a disaster.

“I, for one, want to actually _sleep,”_ Donnie said, releasing Casey’s cheeks and (gently) shoving him to the side. Casey went sideways with only mild complaint, lying down on his uninjured side. Donnie started to turn over to face him, but then grimaced as he felt his belt get in the way. He sat up, fingers going for the buckles. “Hold on, I think sleeping would be comfier if I didn’t have these in the way…”

Donnie got the belts off, placing them on the floor next to his staff and Casey’s bat. He didn’t know where his mask had been thrown, and he didn’t know when he’d actually agreed to stay for the day. Donnie was, however, far too tired and fuzzy in the brain to really think about those things. He was _so_ tired, god…

His head swam a bit as he flopped back onto the bed, exhaustion catching back up with him now that hormones weren’t messing with his neurons. Much.

Donnie ran a hand over his face, and wondered how far out of his mind he was for agreeing while not agreeing to this. An arm reaching out, and turning him over to draw him close again, reminded him why he was so far into insanity.

Casey, demanding and pushy as always, started in for another kiss. Donnie, being obviously insane with lack of sleep, let him. It lacked the heat from earlier, yet wasn’t gentle as the very first had been. It was just… nice.

Donnie couldn’t smell much beyond Casey and the slightly musty bed, which wasn’t nearly as bad as sewers sometimes smelt, and the smells filled his senses along with the kiss and warmth from Casey. It lulled Donnie’s brain into a comfortable haze, and he let it be dragged down into that haze.

He was far too out of it to stop the purr starting in his chest, coaxed into happenstance by the warmth and scent and continued kissing. Donnie was just so _comfortable_ , it happened all on its own. He couldn’t even put any energy into being embarrassed for the sound; he was busy slowly moving closer to Casey’s warm body.

Casey moved his mouth to the side, and Donnie could feel the soft smile the human had against his scales. “Now _that’s_ a new sound,” Casey said in a quietly breathless voice. “Never heard you make that one.”

Donnie’s face felt briefly hot with embarrassment, but he was too tired to get properly worked up. “ ‘s what happens when I’m… comfy…”

Casey’s bed was really soft. And warm. Casey was mostly bones and lean muscles, but at the moment he felt pretty soft and warm too.

Wow Donnie was tired. Augh.

“Hey, hey,” Donnie mumbled, blindly reaching out to grab at Casey’s shirt. He felt the soft cotton, and held onto it tightly. “Don’t… don’t do that again.”

“Don’t do what?”

“Get _shot,_ idiot,” Donnie said empathetically. The gut wrenching anxiety from that moment nearly upset his sleepiness, bringing up a ghost of the sweeping fear Donnie had felt. “You scared me… I didn’t know if it was a… a fatal shot, or, like, your foot or something...”

Casey’s hand moved onto the back of Donnie’s neck, and felt Casey’s blunt nails scratch against the scales there. Donnie’s brief flash of anxiety disappeared under the ministrations, and he barely noticed his increased purring.

“I won’t,” Casey whispered, scratching Donnie’s neck still. “Promise. I’ll be a little more careful next time.”

Donnie’s thoroughly fuzzy brain conceded to that statement, and he sighed. One less worry, for now. “ ‘kay, thanks…”

“Wow. You are _so_ out of it,” Casey whispered, and Donnie could hear the amusement in his voice.

“Shut uuuup…” Was all Donnie could mumble. Oh god, he was so, so tired. He was never waking up again, ever. This was it for him, this was his end. Comatose due to idiot his boyfriend running off and getting shot, and causing Donnie’s insomnia to become worse than ever.

Casey’s hand brushed along the side of Donnie’s face, but he barely felt it. He was so far into near sleep that all he was aware of was his own purring and the warmth coming from Casey.

“Yeah, okay. You’re just gonna fall asleep now, aren’t you?” Casey said in a weirdly affectionate tone. “You do that. G’night, Don.”

Donnie muttered something in response, but he couldn’t even tell what it was. His eyes- which he’d shut and failed to reopen at some point- saw nothing but blackness, and then there was blissful nothing.

 

 

 

Casey watched Donnie fall asleep, which only really took a few minutes. The mutant’s face went lax as he fell out of consciousness, and his breathing turned deep and even.

Casey brushed a thumb under Donnie’s deeply ringed eyes one last time, feeling the thin scales there, and finally dropped his hand back onto the bed.

So that… hadn’t gone how he thought it would. Mostly because he’d been planning on just letting Donnie do his doctor thing and then leave, but then Casey had just. Not been able to let that happen.

Donnie had been getting ready to leave, and Casey’s internal reaction was _not yet._ And one thing led to another, and he’d ended up blurting out something stupid, and then make outs which were always great, and then… this.

Casey’s CD stereo was still playing an old disc his mom had owned, years ago, soft and ambient in the room’s air. The lights were low enough it was cozy feeling, and… he had a big, awfully cuddly body in his bed.

Donnie hadn’t let go of Casey’s shirt when he passed out, hand still fisted in it as he held Casey close. Casey couldn’t bring himself to detach Donnie, not yet. He just seemed… weirdly peaceful. Casey was used to the mutant always being prickly and awake, not drowsy and slurring with stupidly gut-flipping words.

April and Donnie both. They seemed really upset that Casey had gone off and gotten himself hurt. Enough that April had stayed with him even after his dad had come barreling into the ER, tense worry all over his face, and enough that Donnie seemed to have been awake all day… because he was also worried about Casey.

Ah, fuck. There was that weird tugging feeling in his gut again.

Donnie didn’t even stir as Casey sighed; apparently deep enough into slumber his ninja reflexes were dead to the world. Casey watched Donnie’s slow breathing for a few beats, hearing the faint whistle come from the small gap in the turtle’s teeth.

Donnie looked totally exhausted; deep bags under his eyes and only just having lost the weird pinch to his expression. Those things made Casey’s stomach squirm, and he wasn’t really sure what to do with them.

Casey stared at Donnie for a moment longer, and decided the mutant looked almost cute when he was unconscious. Cheek smushed on the pillow, and face completely relaxed. Then Casey decided that thought was weird as _fuck_ to think, and his stomach had no business doing gymnastics right now.

Casey still didn’t move away, or pry Donnie’s grip off of him. He could’ve gotten up, gone back to the doodles he’d been half-assing earlier, but he didn’t… really actually feel like moving.

Yeah… he’d just… hang out for a bit. He _was_ the one who suggested this idea, even if he wasn’t entirely sure why he had, still. Not that he was complaining, since he’d never actually gotten to the part of having someone in his bed before. Not like this. The two of them had done  _stuff_ a couple times before, lots of times, really, but this was... different.

Not a bad different, in Casey's opinion. In fact, even if his stomach felt weird on and off, he thought it was a pretty good situation over all. It was just... really nice.

Casey watched Donnie sleep a little longer, and then closed his own eyes. He’d been feeling wired earlier, but he felt calmer now. Closer to a state that he might actually be able to sleep in.

Maybe that had something to do with the mutant in his bed, maybe it didn’t. Whatever, Casey wasn’t going to question it too deeply. He’d just roll with things, and enjoy the good feelings while he had them.

Casey sighed, and tried to let himself drift off into sleep. It worked, and he fell asleep warm and completely comfortable.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i had my apendix out a few years ago, and lemme tell you, morphine is fucking Magical. i can see why folks get addicted to the stuff, lmao. it makes everything easy and nice. (easy and nice enough i accidentally rambled my way into coming out to my mom midway through things, and she just said "ahuh, that's nice dear" and went back to her work beside my hospital bed. my mom is kind of super awesome like that. (thank ma.))
> 
> anyways. oversharing over. i'm going to go do the thing that donnie is doing (getting much needed sleep) and leave you all until next update. cheers.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi.
> 
> more of this.

 

 

Casey woke back up because it felt like someone was sitting on his chest.

He blearily stared at his ceiling, which had late morning light shining across it; trying to find the thoughts he’d left off on before sleeping.

He craned his head, and found a green limb slung over his chest. Casey’s brain woke up completely, and he finally remembered _oh yeah, Donnie’s here._

Donnie was in Casey’s room, in Casey’s _bed,_ and he was still dead asleep.

He was also sort of cuddling Casey, like he’d been when they fell asleep. Which Casey remembered being a thing right that moment.

Casey turned his head to the side, and found Donnie’s sleep slack face snoring right in front of his. He was fairly certain there was a little bit of drool on the pillow they were sharing.

Casey let out a hiss of breath, and rubbed his eyes. His stitches burned unhappily as he did, which reminded him he needed to find his pill bottle and take his morning painkillers. Judging from the light coming through the window, he’d missed the time he’d been supposed to. Ugh.

Casey stared at Donnie for a moment; examining the lessened circles under his eyes and the general calmness he usually didn’t have. At least, not when Casey was around.

Casey considered going back to sleep, but… he felt like sticking around for Donnie to wake up might feel a little awkward. This was way outside the typical activities they did together- sniping, fighting, furiously making out, etc- and Casey wasn’t exactly sure what the protocols were for it.

Would Donnie _want_ him to stick around? Would Casey want _Donnie_ to stick around, had the mutant woken up first? Fuck. He wasn’t really sure. But girls in movies always seemed to put a lot of emphasis on that part of things…

Casey should have done some googling at some point. He had exactly zero (0) experience with this sort of thing, with girls _or_ guys.

Wait, his dad had said stuff about his mom always loving waking up to food. Breakfast, then? Casey could do breakfast. He’d been making it for himself and his sister for years now, he could handle throwing something into the pan and casually having it ready whenever Donnie woke up.

Welp. If that was settled, then it was time to extract himself from the cuddle octopus.

Who’d have thought, the prickliest, smarmiest, most adamant ‘do _not_ invade my personal space’ guy he knew was a secret sleep cuddler. Huh.

Shit was almost cute.

Donnie made a weird snuffling sound right then, and actually moved _closer_ to Casey. His forehead ended up pressed into Casey’s uninjured arm, soft breath ghosting over the exposed skin there.

Casey put his free hand over his eyes, and ignored how the tips of his ears were probably going red.

God fucking dammnit.

Carefully, Casey started to extract himself from Donnie’s deadweight of an arm. After a very slow removal of his body from Donnie’s octopus cuddling, Casey knelt on the floor with his arms propped on the mattress. Donnie kept snoozing away, lower torso covered by the blankets and his whole body leaning into the warm spot Casey had left.

He looked kind of naked without his mask, even though Casey knew Donnie was technically _always_ naked. He just seemed sort of… less guarded all around, even if he hadn’t been asleep.

Casey bit his lip, staring at Donnie’s.

Impulsively, he leaned back across the mattress, and pressed a soft kiss to his friend’s parted lips.

No response whatsoever, but it felt nice anyways.

Then Casey retreated quickly, getting off the carpet and exiting the room without a glance backwards. His ears were definitely red at this point, and he tried to focus on the pain in his arm instead of the heat hiding behind his loose, shaggy hair.

Casey shut the door quietly behind him, and padded barefoot through his apartment home. His sister’s bedroom door was open and empty, her clothes and toys and general possessions left lying in disarray like Casey’s were in his room. Their dad’s room was shut, but Casey knew he was long gone for work. No one to worry about seeing Donnie, or to question the flush on Casey’s skin.

There were dishes sitting in the kitchen sink, evidence of his sister’s morning breakfast ventures. She was old enough to make her own food these days, as well as get herself to the school bus stop. Aw, and Casey remembered when she’d been too short to reach the stove.

He found his pill container sitting near the sink, and opened it to drop his dosage into his palm. A glass of water later and he swallowed the sour tasting tablets. It wouldn’t be too long before their effects kicked in, and Casey could deal with the pain in his arm until then. Breakfast was the priority.

He turned on the element of the stove, and dug out a clean frying pan. He chose a large one, and put it on to heat up. Casey wasn’t much of a fancy cook, but he could make things that would keep himself and his sister full until their next meals. He figured the same sort of food selection would appeal to Donnie, who he’d come to know would pack away any calorie he could get his hands on- when he remembered to eat, that is. Sciencing and inventing could suck the mutant in and refuse to let him go for hours on end.

Casey had a feeling the voracious way Donnie ate had to do with the uncertainty to their food supply; he vaguely knew the Hamatos had to steal food, or risk ordering it to be dropped somewhere and pay online for it. Honestly, considering the constraints Casey imagined they had on their survival options, Donnie and his family seemed to do alright enough. The muscles they all had certainly said they were getting enough food on a nightly basis.

Casey pushed the thoughts about muscles- Donnie’s specifically- out of his mind and got out the eggs and cheese, with the addition of some peppers and celery. Milk, too.

Bowl, fork, cutting board and knife- and he was in business.

Casey turned on the shitty old radio sitting in the corner, tuning it to a classic rock station he and his dad enjoyed. It provided good background music to his cooking, and Casey mumbled words he knew as he finished chopping the vegetables. He dropped the minced pieces into the pan with some pepper and salt, and started at whisking the eggs with the milk. Once he judged the peppers and celery ready, he added the liquid part of the omelette.

He dropped some bread into the toaster, and went hunting for some of the generic brand jam he knew they’d bought earlier in the week. It was hiding behind last night’s leftovers, which was half a chicken carcass and some potato salad.

The toast popped, and he grabbed them for a quick butter and jamming. Casey then stirred the eggs around until they were finished, and dished them out onto the plates alongside the toast. Not a bad meal all things considering. It wasn’t fancy, but it was good enough.

Casey glanced at the clock, which read a little after one p.m.

He figured it’d been long enough, letting sleeping beauty get his rest.

It was a little awkward, opening the door with two full plates in his hands- god damn did forks like slipping all over the place- but Casey managed to turn the knob and shove his way into his own room.

Donnie remained passed the fuck out, like he’d been when Casey left. All peaceful and dreaming nerdy little dreams. Aw.

Casey lifted his foot and prodded Donnie’s cartilage covered stomach. “Hey asshole, wake the hell up. I made brunch.”

Donnie’s peaceful expression scrunched up and he swatted at Casey’s foot.

“Fckfff.”

“Dude, food. Wake up.”

“Ffffffff _ckoff.”_

“Wake up or I’ll sit on your bony ass.”

“An’l sex doesn’ work that way,” Donnie slurred in an irritated tone.

Casey ignored the flash of excitement/discomfort at that joke. “Oh so you’re awake enough to snark at me, but not enough to eat these delicious fucking eggs I made you? I want a divorce.”

“Whatever will my family think, I’ll be a social pariah,” Donnie replied dryly, putting an arm over his eyes. “Oh wait.”

Casey rolled his eyes.

“I fucking warned you.”

Casey balanced the plates, and clambered onto the bed. Donnie whined and covered the rest of his face with his other arm. Casey slung a leg across Donnie’s stomach, and sat himself right on top of the pathetically groaning mutant.

“There are so many innuendoes going on here right now,” Donnie said from under his arms.

Casey elected to not think about said innuendoes. Right that second, at least. “Quit bitching and eat the goddamn food I made you. I wore an apron and everything.”

“Bullshit.”

“Yeah, but still. Eat the eggs.”

“You’re like a hundred pounds when wet, how are you so _heavy?”_

“It’s my condensed awesome.”

“More like condensed idiocy.”

“ _Eggs,_ Donnie.”

“Get off me first.”

“Did that a few days ago, I’m good.”

“Oh for- I’ll eat the eggs if you stop setting us up for innuendoes.”

Casey grinned at Donnie. “S’all I asked for.”

Donnie glared up at him, all big red eyes and familiar scowls. Casey worked a little harder (wait fuck bad word choice-) to ignore the position he’d put them in. Pain pills and sleep deprivation were not helping that effort.

He dropped the plate on Donnie’s chest, and shoved himself backwards. That left his legs on either side of Donnie, and the mutant scrambling to catch the toast and eggs before they fell.

Donnie glared at him, again, but shuffled himself backwards to lean against the headboard. He looked down at the plate of food and fork, and gave it a vaguely surprised nod. “Not bad. It looks edible.”

“Fuck you,” Casey said, and dug into his own plate of food. “I’m a culinary artist.”

Donnie made a doubtful hum, and picked up his fork.

They sat in silence for a while, eating and waking up all the way. Casey’s arm was pain free once more, and Donnie actually seemed to be enjoying the eggs. Neither of them had removed their legs from the center of the bed, where they remained touching each other, but not quite.

Honestly, it was a good sort of moment. Comfortable in a lot of ways, oddly enough.

Casey shoved a bite of toast into his mouth, getting jam on his upper lip. He noticed then that Donnie was staring at him.

Casey pushed the food in his mouth to the side. “Wh’t?”

Donnie blinked, and then shook his head. “Just wondering why I make out with you.”

“It’s the raw magnetism,” Casey supplied with an eyebrow waggle. “Folks can’t get enough of it.”

Donnie gave him a look. “You have jam all over your lip and crumbs on your shirt.”

Casey waggled his eyebrows again.

“Irresistible.”

“Ugh.”

Casey snorted at Donnie’s eye rolling, and brought his toast back to his mouth to take another bite. The ringing of his doorbell made him freeze. Donnie too.

They exchanged glances.

“You said your family was out all day,” Donnie said, looking nervously towards Casey’s open bedroom door.

“They are,” Casey said, setting his plate down. “I dunno who that could be. Stay here.”

Donnie scoffed, pushing his eggs around. “Not like I was going to go get it myself, I’m sure your neighbors would just _love_ seeing me at the door…”

“Shut up,” Casey kicked Donnie’s feet as he got up. “At least you’re better looking than the guy on third. He’s got, like, hair coming out of _everything._ Shit is just weird.”

“Hmm.”

“Be back in a minute,” Casey said, and on impulse, stepped close to the bed and gave Donnie a drawn out, sloppy kiss on the cheek.

“Oh _ew-_ just spit on me, why don’t you?” Donnie squawked as he leaned away, rubbing at the wet spot.

Casey laughed, and left the room before his friend could retaliate properly. He shut the door tight behind him, in case it _was_ his family, and headed for the door just as the third buzz went off.

He put his eye to the peephole, and lo and behold-

-April was standing outside his apartment door.

“Oh shit,” Casey whispered under his breath.

 

 

 

April waited for someone to answer the door- it’d likely be Casey, unless he was sleeping too heavy to be woken up.

She didn’t have too long, with training not too many hours away and some schoolwork to catch up on that she’d been falling behind with. Better to take advantage of the days off her aunt had called in for her and get back up to date.

Also, to take advantage of the days off by dropping in to visit a certain friend of hers who’d given her a heart attack, and was the reason for her mandatory sleep-ins. April hoped Casey was feeling alright; it was only a day since he’d gotten out of the hospital. April had spent both the last nights awake and worrying, and she needed to see that Casey was really on the mend. Otherwise her anxiety just wouldn’t leave her alone.

April adjusted the bag of snacks in her hand, and wondered what was taking so long.

The door swung inwards, and a sleep mussed Casey Jones appeared in the doorframe.

“April! Hey! Fancy seeing you- here,” He leaned on the doorway, grinning at her in a way that screamed awkward. “H-how you doin’ today?”

April raised an amused eyebrow. “Considering I’m not the one nursing a bullet wound, pretty stellar. You?”

“Oh you know. Fine. Painkillers, food, week off from school… good stuff all around.”

“So… am I allowed to come in?” April prompted.

“In? _Oh,_ in, right,” Casey glanced over his shoulder. “Uh. Sure! Come right on in. And is that for me? Aw, you’re sweet.” He snatched the bag of convenience store snacks from her, and hustled her inside towards the kitchen. “Yeah we’ll just set these right on in here- do they need to be refrigerated?”

April laughed, letting Casey push her through his home. “They’re _chips,_ Casey.”

“Right, right.”

“Okay, how many painkillers are you on right now?” April asked as they entered the kitchen.

Casey made a grimace, and set the bag on the table. “Um, as many as I needed? According to the label?”

“Which is…?”

“…fuck, I forgot.”

“Casey.”

“I took the right amount though, I swear!”

April opened her mouth to comment on how good his word was lately- something something getting _shot_ \- when a loud crash echoed from the back of the apartment. She turned her head towards it. “What was that?”

“Uh- a cat!” Casey exclaimed. “Yeah. Damn- damn neighbor’s cat. Always gets in through my window. Lemme just go get rid of it real quick.”

April perked up, looking down the hall interestedly. “A cat? Can I meet him before you do?”

Casey made a strangled sound. “No?? Sorry, shit, he’s an _awful_ cat, just the shittiest thing. Complete wad. I tried to pet him one time and he bit me.”

April laughed, and started towards the bedroom the sound had come from. “I’m sure he’s not that bad, cats are such sweeties once you get to know them.”

“Trust me, this one is a total asshole to the core- aw shit, April no it’s so messy in there you don’t want to see it-”

April shushed Casey, and opened the door.

The window to his room was open and blowing an afternoon breeze in. The covers of Casey’s bed were a disaster, and so was the floor of his bedroom; clothing and possessions everywhere. And-

“You ate two breakfasts? In bed?” April questioned, stepping over a pile of clothes towards the bed. There were indeed two plates with mostly finished food on each. She glanced over her shoulder, giving Casey a despairing look. “If you do this often, it’s no wonder that cat sneaks in here all the time.”

Casey was leaning heavily on the doorway, hand over his heart. “Yup. Probably. I’ll stop doing that.”

April frowned, and stepped back across the room; going over and lightly touching the arm Casey had been injured on. He looked stressed, which wasn’t something she saw him show very often. “Hey, is the arm hurting that much?”

He blinked at her, glancing at the hand and back at her face. “Uh… no, no I’m fine. I just. Really don’t like that cat.”

April smiled and chuckled. “It’d help if you closed your window.”

“Ha, ha… yeah…”

April patted Casey’s arm and stepped away. Obviously, the injury and painkillers were messing with his head, making him odder than usual. “Come on, I don’t have too long and I want some of those chips before I go.”

Casey glanced once back at his open window, and then followed her away. “And here I thought those snacks were a gift to me.”

“No, they’re a gift to me and you get some because I’m benevolent.”

“I’m real honored.”

“You should be.”

Casey snorted, and April smiled to herself. She felt infinitely better, seeing him up and about and being the general endearing idiot she knew him to be. It was a serious weight off her chest, knowing at least one person for sure was alright in her life.

“Aw sick, you bought my favorite.”

“Mine too.”

“We should totally mix them in a bowl. Favorite chips x2.”

“ _Yes.”_

 

 

 

Donnie held a hand over his pounding heart, and sank exhaustedly against the tunnel wall behind him. He’d rushed through getting his gear on, opening the window again, and speedily-yet-stealthily sprinted for the nearest sewer entrance. It’d been more nerve wracking than facing a whole swarm of Kraang on his own- those few seconds he’d been out in broad daylight.

Holy _fuck_ had that been close. April had come into the apartment, and very, very nearly found Donnie there. There was no possible explanation Donnie would have been able to give that would sound believable to her. Her seeing him in Casey’s apartment would have ruined everything in one fell swoop.

Donnie’s heart might’ve stopped beating for a moment there, hearing Casey whisper-yell through the house that Donnie needed to leave and he needed to leave _now._

He’d nearly been exposed in so many different ways today, and it wasn’t even evening yet. That’s what he got for sticking around and listening to an idea _Casey-_ Mr. “I-run-head-first-into-danger-for- _fun”-_ had come up with.

But, it had been a relatively good sleep. A great one, if he were truthful. And an enjoyable few minutes of company afterwards to boot.

Donnie sighed.

He didn’t remember a whole lot of what’d happen, the transition between making out and then waking up the next day, but he’d gotten most of a warm meal and slept in a _very_ warm bed. Humans were unfairly warm; Mother Nature was biased and clearly favored them over reptiles.

He vaguely remembered cuddling.

Donnie put his hands over his face and groaned.

No, he _definitely_ remembered cuddling, however blurry the memory was. Well, there went any respect Casey might’ve had for him. Curse his tendency to move towards anything with a higher base temperature than him.

His phone buzzed in his belt. Donnie slid it out of its pouch and squinted at the sudden bright glare.

 _‘guess wht u left behind’_ it read, coming from the contact Donnie had labelled _Blight Of My Life_.

Quickly following it was a snapped picture of Donnie’s mask on Casey’s floor.

Donnie smacked a hand onto his face, and found he’d indeed forgotten his mask.

_“Fuck.”_

His phone blipped in his hand.

_‘also ten points to gryffindor im chillin with apes and u aint’_

_‘;p’_

Donnie contemplated how much he was _really_ afraid of exposure- on multiple levels- by going back to that apartment and strangling Casey. Bitter jealousy- something he’d been moving past but wasn’t quite done with- climbed up his throat and turned the aftertaste of breakfast stale. Once again, because of his inhumanity, Casey was able to do something with April that Donnie wasn’t.

Donnie wasn’t actually sure who he was jealous of anymore. Casey or April. They could both spend time together in daylight hours, but the brief interlude Donnie had had with Casey in the teen’s bedroom was all he could get. Nothing more.

It was disheartening to remember that, and the other multiple things he couldn’t offer the two humans in a relationship.

Donnie’s phone blipped another few times in rapid succession, cutting off his train of melancholy thoughts.

_‘also uh_

_thnks for dropping by??_

_that was_

_nice_

_of you_

_be safe and stuff dont get caught or nothin bfore you get home_

_k?_

_and see you lter or whatevr’_

Donnie blinked at the screen, and the words displayed on it. He tried to find a hint of smarm, or sarcasm, or antagonizing tone to the messages. He couldn’t.

Donnie’s thumbs hovered over the keyboard. He bit his lip, thinking back to how comfortable it’d been falling asleep in Casey’s bed, and the weird moment he’d had watching the other teen eat breakfast.

It’d been… nice, sharing breakfast with someone other than his siblings or father. Particularly since that someone spent a chunk of their time together trying to make out with Donnie. The situation had actually been very pleasant, despite the usual endless annoyance competition he and Casey had. It was different from what they typically did, and that whole situation had been… good. Really good.

Donnie’s cheeks then warmed at the memory of the situation _before_ that situation. The one where Casey had straddled his torso and given him a stubborn, teasing grin; loose haired and still wearing thin PJs.

God damn the images that memory brought to his mind.

After another minute or so of hesitating and shoving his thoughts back into order- no he wasn’t going to think about that particular scene right that moment he had _self-control_ , dammnit- Donnie sent a reply to Casey’s texts.

_‘Thanks for the breakfast. It wasn’t half bad._

_Hope you feel_

_Less like you got a bullet wound recently_

_Soon._

_Also yeah_

_I’d like to see you soon, too._

_Rest up._

_Doctor’s orders.’_

 

_‘ooh orders_

_kinky’_

 

For fuck’s sake.

 

_‘I Will come back there.’_

_‘come where?_

_*eyebrow waggle*’_

_‘Next time I see you, I’m shaving those off.’_

_‘:p’_

 

Sometime, much later in the day, when Leo was getting up for his early evening jog- Donnie’s brother paused in the kitchen, giving Donnie a confused look.

“Hey Donnie, what happened to your mask?”

“Don’t ask.”

“But-”

“Don’t. Ask.”

His brother seemed to get the message that Donnie wasn’t in the mood for interrogation, even the polite kind.

Leo raised his hands in surrender. “Someone hasn’t had their evening coffee.”

Donnie scoffed, hunching over his mug. “I’ll have you know, this is my third.”

“Donnie, no.”

“Donnie, doesn’t-give-a-fuck.”

Leo gave him a disparaging look. “First you stay up all day _-_ don’t think we didn’t notice the lab lights never went off- and now you’re hyping yourself up on caffeine before it’s even ten. You’re going to run yourself into the ground, Donnie.”

Donnie shrugged. Honestly, he felt pretty good. He’d had a pleasant sleep, and while he hadn’t been able to go back to sleep once he’d gotten home, he’d gotten more hours of sleep in a row than he usually did.

“I’m fine, promise.”

“If you say so…”

Donnie’s phone buzzed beside his mug, and he opened it to view the messages.

 

_‘hey did u kno u purr when u get sleeply?_

_sleepy*_ ’

 

God _fucking_ dammnit.

 

_‘Do NOT speak of that ever again.’_

_‘u were lik this little puddle of sleepy goo_

_tbh almost passed out u is like 99% nicer to me_

_also way more kissable’_

_‘Casey_

_What did you do to my sleeping self.’_

_‘*~eyebrow waggle~*’_

_‘That’s it I’m bleaching my whole body.’_

 

“Donne? You okay?”

“Leo, where did you last see the bleach.”

“…Donnie, no.”

“Leo, I _need it.”_

“For god’s sake it’s barely evening.”

“I _need it.”_

 

_‘cant rid urself of the jones touch_

_its frever dude_

_shit sticks for good_

_no take backs no nothin’_

_‘I’m breaking up with you.’_

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i love all three of my children they're beautiful and total disasters. i also love writing jonatello banter- shit's just bread and butter for me. also stupid romcom shenanigans added into things, _always_ fun am i right?
> 
> side note: oh april. oh april april april. you are going to care so much about these boys one day you will be beside yourself with a never ending question of _why this._ just you wait.
> 
> minor spoilers but not really- the space arc is probably going to be my favorite to write in this AU. so many more options to what the three of them can get up to. but first, a bunch of other arcs, bleh.
> 
> hope y'all enjoyed the update, ciao.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOW SHIT ITS AN UPDATE THAT SHOULD HAVE HAPPENED AGES AGO. HI.
> 
> this is casey heavy in POV, but like,,, he's so good to write from? i love him and his straight forward view of things. bless him and his dangerboner.

April opened her locker, swinging her backpack around to unload the textbooks she wouldn’t need tonight. Most of them, honestly, because training was going to eat up a lot of potential study time, and she could probably afford to put off that one Social paper another few days. The most she’d deal with tonight was a sheet of mathematics, and then she’d take a well-deserved rest afterwards.

April tried to pry out her Science and English textbooks at the same time, and made a frustrated sound as they dislodged her calculator and sent it towards the linoleum.

Someone’s hand darted forwards to grab it from the air, missed, and April caught her calculator with her foot.

“Damn, thought I had that.”

April glanced up from her balancing act, and was met with a gap toothed grin.

“ _You,”_ April said, kicking her calculator upwards and grabbing it one handed. “are supposed to be on bedrest still. Why’re showing up here when you don’t need to, _and_ at the end of the day?”

Casey shrugged, and April noticed then that he was dressed in actually respectable clothes for once. White dress shirt and clean, un-paint splattered black jeans. He still was wearing his hightops, filthy as ever, but everything else was actually… really cleaned up. It seemed so bizarre on Casey, who seemed to be perpetually at least a _little_ dirty in appearance.

Casey reached out, taking her textbooks and putting them in her messy locker. “Got bored of spending time with just my folks,” He said, shutting April’s locker and leaning on it. There was that signature smirk of his. “So, I thought I’d pop in and see if a pal of mine would like to go get some food somewhere.”

April nearly rolled her eyes at the thinly veiled date offer, but paused.

“Did you wash your hair?” She asked, looking at the healthy sheen and near fluffiness of Casey’s black hair. “And _not_ wear your bandanna?”

Casey ran a hand backwards through his hair- his injured arm, April noted, but with less stiffness than when they’d last been together- and he smiled. “Yep. Guess why?”

April leaned on her locker beside him, quirking an eyebrow. “If it’s some ridiculous pickup line from a movie, I’ll have to decline.”

Casey scoffed, putting a hand on his chest. “O _’Neil,_ you _know_ I have more class than that.”

“You’ve done it repeatedly, though.”

“All in the past! And I’ll have you know I’m all fancied up because of legality matters. Very serious stuff.”

“You have a stain on your shirt.”

“ _What?_ Shit, I was talking to like three policemen today-”

April flicked the end of Casey’s nose as he looked down, and laughed at his offended expression.

“You’re too easy,” April teased, sliding around Casey and walking away, zipping up her bag and shouldering it as she did. There wasn’t even a pause as footsteps followed her, accompanied by the mumble of _“-I’m not_ easy _, jeez.”_

“So. The ‘legality matters’?” April prompted as they walked. Casey stuck close to her side as they filed through the hallway, avoiding people accidentally jostling his arm and by result nearly pressing into April. April didn’t say anything about that; just enjoyed being close.

“The police hauled me into the station to identify the guys who shot me,” Casey said, keeping pace with April by taking half-strides. “Apparently… they got a bunch of info suddenly of their locations, occupations, names and addresses and social security numbers…” Casey slid a sly look towards April, ginning just as. “They even had security footage and the licence plate of the getaway car. It didn’t even take a full hour to track them all down and bring them in. All I had to do was point and say _that’s him, sir, that’s the man who shot me.”_

“You say it in that voice?” April asked with her own sly grin.

“Heh, no, but I almost couldn’t help myself. It was a pretty close call.”

April hummed, sidestepping a passing student. “And just where did all that information come from exactly?”

“Funny thing, that,” Casey chuckled. “It all showed up in the investigating officers’ emails as an untraceable and anonymous tip. They don’t know who could have pulled all that information out of thin air and done it so subtly.”

“Wow,” April said, feeling a soft warmth appear in the center of her chest. Oh, Donnie. “Can’t imagine who that could have been.”

Casey gave her a conspiratorial smile. “The police said they’d keep investigating for an identity, since that tipper broke a metric ton of privacy laws doing this, but… I kinda doubt that they’ll find him.”

“You so sure they’re a guy?”

“I got a hunch, yeah.”

April nudged Casey’s side as they made it out the front doors. “Make sure you say thank you for that tip when you see him, and I mean that. No sarcasm or insults allowed. I know you two fight, but-”

“I got it, I got it,” Casey waved her off. “No snark all sincerity. I can do that. I’ll thank Donnie properly, I swear.”

April measured the truthfulness of that statement, examining Casey’s face, and found it to be completely sincere. A pleasant surprise. She smiled to herself, glad the two of them could get along at least when someone was in serious trouble. That was a step up from pure hatred.

They stopped at the edge of the street, where buses were pulling up to take kids home and the stream of the crowd was breaking into fragments. April debated how much time she had to relax, before night approached and she needed to finish school work and training both, and found she had a spare moment for some food.

And besides. Casey was injured still, she was just being a good friend by agreeing to an outing.

“Did you take painkillers?” April asked, eyes searching for the bus they’d want.

“Course. I’m tough, but I’m not stupid about pain.”

“Good, because I think I’m taking you up on that food offer,” April spotted their bus and grabbed Casey’s hand on impulse, pulling him towards it. His fingers wrapped around hers not even a moment later; thin and strong.

April felt bubbly inside; nothing but good news and now nothing but fun things all afternoon. It might’ve made her impulse to pull Casey close on the bus a little reckless- she’d _said_ , repeatedly, that relationships weren’t something she could handle right now- but it was overshadowed by the immediate conversation they struck up. About some movies that came out recently, about how Casey’s family was wrestling insurance to cover his hospital bills, about an upcoming partner project in a class they shared…

Easy things, normal things; things that made April unwind from her constant counting of the hours and her daily/nightly activities, and focus purely on a corny joke Casey had inserted into the flow of conversation.

They ended up in a Denny’s, then a mall trip so April could buy new tights for training, and stuck together until the sun started to set. April could’ve been working on her math problems, probably _should’ve,_ but being a normal teen for a few hours won out.

She didn’t hold Casey’s hand again after the brief contact on the bus, but she did stick close to his side all afternoon. Neither of them said anything about that, though.

 

 

 

Casey was definitely going to rub it in Donnie’s face that he’d gotten to have a date _all afternoon_ with April.

…after he thanked Donnie for the illegal tip off info, of course. He’d keep his promise to April and thank the mutant _properly_. Maybe not tonight, since his arm was kinda burning around its stitches, but sometime.

Donnie was _such_ a show off though, doing all that and not even calling to lord it over Casey’s head. Casey couldn’t even call him a jerk without being a jerk himself. It felt like the mutant had scored a dozen points while Casey was in timeout, and now he had to rush to catch up and even the score.

Or maybe Donnie had just been doing a nice thing for him, which put Casey right back at the original problem. Dammnit.

Walking into the lair, a half step behind April, Casey was greeted by the usual setup of the underground home. Leo at the television, intently watching an old cartoon; Mikey tossing around a hacky-sack with an absent expression and his headphones on; Raph doing steady push ups in the center of the media pit; and Donnie, sitting on the couch and fiddling with his laptop.

All four brothers roused from their activities to welcome them, varying levels of concern for Casey’s wellbeing being a new addition. Even Raph’s usual welcome punch was light handed, and definitely aimed somewhere it wouldn’t even come close to Casey’s injury. While everyone’s focus was on him, Casey noticed April move quietly away from the main group.

“And _this,”_ April said in a voice Casey barely heard, stepping over to Donnie pulling him downwards. “is for what you did.”

Donnie made a goofy smile, nervous laughter coming from him as April gave him a kiss on the cheek. “It was- it was nothing,” He stuttered, looking absolutely pleased and yet so awkward about it. “I- ahem. Was just making sure justice was carried out properly.”

April smiled warmly at him. “Well, I’m glad you did. Thank you.”

“It wasn’t a problem, just some basic hacking; I could’ve done it in my sleep, honestly…”

Casey caught Donnie’s eye then, and the two of them stared over everyone else’s heads. Gazes locked.

Then, Donnie smiled, barely noticeable to anyone that it wasn’t aimed at April. Casey found one tugging at his own lips, and the words _thank you_ nearly spilling from them with embarrassing sincerity, but the words were interrupted by Raph telling him to snap out of it.

“How many pain meds you on anyways?” Raph asked, pushing Casey backwards to where he’d been standing. Without noticing it, Casey had started to move towards Donnie and April.

“Oh, uh, just a couple,” Casey answered vaguely, putting a hand on the back of his neck to rub it awkwardly. Right, he was supposed to talk with Donnie later. In private.

Casey was pretty sure Donnie noticed the near slip, judging from the way he visibly refocused elsewhere. On April instead, since the two of them could interact without anyone asking questions.

Casey found himself feeling oddly separated from Donnie, even with just the few feet of space and his brothers between them.

When master Splinter emerged from the dojo, giving Casey a cursory greeting and well wishes for his swift recovery, training was started not long after. Casey was, as usual, very excluded from that, and ended up being firmly sidelined while everyone else geared up for the sparring sessions. He did need to go home at some point- he didn’t have the same kind of guardian supervision his friends did, not asking questions of where he was- but Casey lingered just a short while. Watching and quipping as everyone warmed up.

Casey did linger on April and Donnie the most; April testing out the new exercise tights she’d bought and Donnie helping her through one of the more extreme stretches they had to do. During training, the awkwardly smitten Donnie was absent; he was all business when it came to helping April improve her martial arts skills.

Casey bided his time like that, watching the two of them interact. Waiting for… something.

The longer he watched, the more aware he was of how different Donnie was with April. More specifically, how different things were for the two of them, versus him and Donnie. For one thing, they were out in the open, while nearly every meaningful interaction Casey had with the mutant was behind closed doors.

Sure, they got to snipe and prod at each other in front of everyone else, but Casey couldn’t exactly go over and casually throw his arm across Donnie’s shoulders, or even be close at all.

Casey rubbed the side of his face, sighing. Originally, he’d thought that keeping things a secret wouldn’t be that big of a deal. Sure their alternate selves had things figured out- but did they have things out in the open, with everyone in the know about their relationship? And how would everyone else in the Hamato family even react, if they made it public? How would _this_ April react?

Casey had at first been very confident in her being okay with that, and he still kept faith in that. But their buddies, Donnie’s brothers? Master Splinter? That’s where things were starting to seem a little… iffy.

Or maybe Casey was letting himself overthink things while on pain medication. Ergh.

Focus on the simple things. _Simpler,_ at least. Like signaling Donnie to step out and give them a moment alone, before Casey needed to start rushing home. Thankfully, when Casey nodded his head at the door after catching Donnie’s notice, Donnie nodded in response and excused himself to quickly check on something in his lab.

Casey waited a few seconds after Donnie left to excuse himself too, since it was late and he had to check back in with his family. He got another round of _get well soon_ and similar variations of the phrase, and Casey gave everyone a promise he’d be back to 100% before they could even say _Casey Jones._

Casey rolled his eyes as he heard Mikey say _“Casey Jones. There, ha ha.”_ just because he could and he was such a little shit sometimes. Casey shut the dojo door behind himself, walking casually away from it and towards the lab. As he rounded the corner to enter, Casey nearly bumped into Donnie, who was in the process of coming back out.

 _“Casey,”_ Donnie said with a slight hitch, and then composed himself. “Sorry, what did you want?”

“Oh, uh, just, you know…” Casey’s hand went to the back of his neck again, feeling oddly awkward. “Just wanted to say thank you, for what you did. It was pretty cool of you.”

Donnie blinked in surprise, probably because Casey was being absolutely sincere. “You’re welcome,” He said, giving a small smile. “But really, it’s like I told April. It was nothing on my part, most firewalls are garbage anyway. It barely took me two hours.”

Casey snorted. “Fishing for extra praise?”

“My skills are worthy of it,” Donnie said smugly. Casey barked a laugh, and grinned at how pleased Donnie still seemed.

“Okay, for once I’ll give you that,” Casey allowed. “Good job being a nerd and thanks for giving me the satisfaction of sending those guys to jail. They’re barely gonna need me for testimony during the persecution trial with all the evidence.”

“Good. That was the purpose of things.”

“Yeah, yeah. Gloat while you can.”

“It’s not gloating if it’s simply stating a fact.”

“Wow, gloating. Definitely gloating now.”

Donnie made something of a gigglesnort and _wow,_ okay, that was not allowed to make Casey’s gut twist like it was. Definitely a new development.

Then he thought, _hey, why not make it two for two?_ And Casey caught Donnie off-guard, grabbing his wrist and pulling him close enough to kiss his cheek. The opposite side to the one April had.

“There,” Casey said, firmly ignoring how his gut twisted again, standing this close to Donnie. “you are officially and properly thanked.”

“Um, o- okay?” Donnie said, giving a confused look to Casey. His cheek scales were a bit darker than normal, and Casey heard him swallow.

Donnie’s free hand slid around Casey’s, so that they were both kind of holding onto one another, and they stood for a second like that. Then, Donnie leaned forwards and pressed a kiss to Casey’s lips.

 _“HEY DONNIE-”_ Mikey yelled, bursting out from the dojo and startling Donnie and Casey apart. “ _-QUIT SLACKIN’ AND GET IN HERE TO HELP KICK RAPH AND LEO’S ASSES!”_

Casey coughed awkwardly, putting another few steps between him and Donnie. “So, yeah, see you ‘round. Bye.” He beat a hasty retreat before Donnie could really respond beyond a rushed _“-sure yeah bye.”_ or before Mikey could notice anything amiss.

 

 

 

Donnie reminded himself firmly, holding both his cheeks and briefly ignoring the clamor of his family and April, that just because he  _could_ kiss Casey for the most part whenever he wanted, did not mean he  _should._

...neither April or Casey were playing fair, jeez. How was he even supposed to react to those sorts of things? Especially when April hadn't said yes or no yet, and he and Casey were supposed to be  _secret._

It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair at all.

Donnie really wished he could've returned the kiss to April, and that his with Casey had lasted a lot longer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> holy shit and finally, fucking FINALLY, i can move onto the next arc. what will that entail you ask? well my friends, i've had my eye on the farm arc for /ages/, and finally it is time for us to embark on that part of this journey. there will be feels, and angst, and trauma, and romance! all the important things in life.
> 
> also, bc i love writing fanfics but it doesn't pay super well, a [Ko-fi or two would be really appreciated.](https://ko-fi.com/A3022DE7) thanks!

**Author's Note:**

> Lemme know how this went in the comments below, and don't forget to kudo.


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